View source for User:A.S. Brown/Iran-Iraq War

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Iran-Iraq War
|date= 22 September 1980 – 20 August 1988 (7 years, 334 days)
|partof= the [[Persian Gulf conflicts]]
|image=[[File:Iran-Iraq War Montage.png|300px]]
|caption=Clockwise from above: Iranian soldiers wearing gas masks to counter Iraqi chemical weapons, Iranian soldiers rejoicing after the [[liberation of Khorramshahr]], [[Donald Rumsfeld]] and [[Saddam]] meeting in Baghdad to discuss [[United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war|US military aid to Iraq]], Iranian oil platform burning after attack by [[US Navy]] in [[Operation Nimble Archer]]
|place= [[Iran–Iraq border]]
|result= *Stalemate
*Both Iraq and Iran accepted [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 598]] to cease fighting
|territory=[[Status quo ante bellum]]; observed by [[UNIIMOG]] based on [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 619|Security Council Resolution 619]]
|combatant1={{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} '''[[Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran]]'''<br />
{{flagicon image|Former Flag of KDP.svg}} [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of PUK.png}} [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan|PUK]]<br />
[[Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq|SCIRI]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Islamic Dawa Party logo.jpg}} [[Islamic Dawa Party|Da'awa]]
|combatant2={{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} '''[[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]]'''¹<br />
[[People's Mujahedin of Iran|MKO]] <ref>''Iranian perspectives on the Iran-Iraq war'', Ed. Farhang Rajaee.</ref><br />
|commander1={{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} '''[[Ruhollah Khomeini]]'''<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Abulhassan Banisadr]] <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Mohammad-Ali Rajai]] ([[Killed in action|KIA]])<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]] <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Ali Khamenei]] <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Mir-Hossein Mousavi]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Mostafa Chamran]] ([[Killed in action|KIA]])<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Mohsen Rezaee]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}} [[Ali Sayad Shirazi]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Former Flag of KDP.svg}} [[Massoud Barzani]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of PUK.png}} [[Jalal Talabani]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of PUK.png}} [[Nawshirwan Mustafa]]<br />
[[Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim]]<br />
[[Abdul Aziz al-Hakim]]<br />
|commander2={{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} '''[[Saddam Hussein]]'''<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Ali Hassan al-Majid]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Taha Yassin Ramadan]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Salah Aboud Mahmoud]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Tariq Aziz]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Adnan Khairallah]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Saddam Kamel]]<br />
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg}} [[Qusay]]<br />
[[Massoud Rajavi]]<br />
[[Maryam Rajavi]]
|strength1=600,000 soldiers,<br />100,000 to 150,000 [[Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps|Pasdaran]] and [[Basij]], 100,000 militia,<br />1,000 tanks,<br />4,000 armored vehicles,<br />7,000 artillery pieces,<br />747 aircraft,<br/>750 helicopters<ref name="LOCFRD-Iran">{{Cite document
| url = http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html
| author=Federal Research Division
| title = Country Study: Iran
| publisher=Library of Congress
}}</ref>
|strength2=300,000 in 1980,<br />1,000,000 by 1988,<br />4,000 tanks,<br />4,000 armored vehicles,<br />7,330 artillery pieces,<br />500+ aircraft,<br />100+ helicopters<ref name="GlobalSecIIWar">{{cite web
| url = http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm | title =Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | publisher=Globalsecurity.org (John Pike)
}}</ref>
|casualties1= 500,000 to 1,000,000 dead;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm#Iran-Iraq |title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls |publisher=Users.erols.com |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm |title=Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref><ref name="encyclopedia1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war3.php |title=Iran Chamber Society: History of Iran: Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988 |publisher=Iranchamber.com |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_iraniraq.html |title=Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988 |publisher=Historyofwar.org |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref>
><ref>[http://www.emadbaghi.com/archives/2005/09/000618print.php EùmadBaghi.com], امار شهداي جنگ جامعه شناسي جنگ, from the website of Iranian journalist and activist Emadeddin Baghi</ref>

Economic loss of more than US$500&nbsp;billion<ref name="encyclopedia1"/>|casualties2=Estimated 300,000 soldiers, militia, and civilians killed or wounded{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
Economic loss of more than US$500&nbsp;billion<ref name="encyclopedia1"/>|notes=&sup1; With support from the [[Soviet Union|U.S.S.R.]], France, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United States, and other Arab, [[NATO]] and [[Warsaw Pact]] countries for Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0825449.html |title=Iran-Iraq War |publisher=Infoplease.com |date=22 September 1980 |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/arabs/iraniraq.html |title=The Iran-Iraq War |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref>
}}
{{Campaignbox Iran-Iraq War}}
{{Campaignbox Persian Gulf Wars}}
The '''Iran–Iraq War''', also known as the '''Imposed War''' (جنگ تحمیلی, ''Jang-e-tahmīlī'') and '''Holy Defense''' (دفاع مقدس, ''Defā'-e-moqqaddas'') in Iran, '''Saddām's''' '''[[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah|Qādisiyyah]]''' (قادسيّة صدّام, ''Qādisiyyat Ṣaddām'') in Iraq, and the '''(First) Persian Gulf War''', was an armed conflict between the armed forces of [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] and [[Iran]], lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Longest-War-Iran-Iraq-Military-Conflict/product-reviews/0415904072 |title=Customer Reviews: The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict |publisher=Amazon.com |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/fair/longest-war-never-again |title=The Longest War-Never Again |publisher=Iranian.com |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.safehaven.com/article/7228/war-of-blackmail |title=War of Blackmail &#124; Martin Weiss |publisher=Safehaven.com |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> It was initially referred to in English as the "Persian Gulf War" prior to the "[[Gulf War]]" of 1990.

The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980 following a long history of [[Territorial dispute|border disputes]], and fears of [[Shia]] insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the [[Iranian Revolution]]. Iraq was also aiming to replace Iran as the dominant [[Persian Gulf]] [[State (polity)|state]]. Although Iraq hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos in Iran and attacked without formal warning, they made only limited progress into Iran and within several months were repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years, Iran was on the offensive.<ref name="Molavi2005p152">{{Cite document
| last = Molavi | first = Afshin
| title = The Soul of Iran
| publisher=Norton
| year = 2005
| page = 152
}}</ref> Despite [[United Nations Security Council Resolutions concerning Iraq|calls for a ceasefire]] by the [[United Nations Security Council]], hostilities continued until 20 August 1988. The war finally ended with a United Nations brokered ceasefire in the form of [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 598]], which was accepted by both sides. It took several weeks for the Iranian armed forces to evacuate Iraqi territory to honor pre-war international borders between the two nations (see [[1975 Algiers Agreement]]). The last [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were exchanged in 2003.<ref name="Molavi2005p152" /><ref>{{cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 | work=The New York Times | first=Nazila | last=Fathi | title=Threats And Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal | date=14 March 2003}}</ref>

The war came at a great cost in lives and economic damage—half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers as well as civilians are believed to have died in the war with many more injured—but it brought neither reparations nor change in borders. The conflict is often compared to [[World War I]],<ref>Abrahamian, Ervand, ''A History of Modern Iran'', Cambridge, 2008, p.171</ref> in that the tactics used closely mirrored those of that conflict, including large scale [[trench warfare]], manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use of [[barbed wire]] across trenches, [[human wave attacks]] across [[no-man's land]], and extensive use of [[chemical weapons]] such as [[mustard gas]] by the Iraqi government against Iranian [[troops]] and civilians as well as Iraqi [[Kurd]]s. 

==Background==
===History of war's name===
The war was commonly referred to as the '''Gulf War''' or '''Persian Gulf War''' until the [[Gulf War|Iraq-Kuwait conflict]] ([[Operation Desert Storm]] Jan–Feb 1991), and for a while thereafter as the '''First Persian Gulf War'''. The Iraq-Kuwait conflict, while originally known as the Second Persian Gulf War, later became known simply as "'''The Gulf War.'''" The United States-led [[Iraq War|invasion of Iraq in 2003]] and the following occupation of the country from 2003–2010 has since been called the Second Persian Gulf War.

Iraqi president [[Saddam Hussein]] initially dubbed the conflict "The Whirlwind War".<ref>[[Robert Fisk|Fisk, Robert]]. ''[[The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East]]''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, p. 219. {{ISBN|1-84115-007-X}}.</ref>

==Origins==
===Post-colonial era===
One of the factors contributing to hostility between the two powers was a dispute over full control of the [[Shatt al-Arab]] waterway (known as ''Arvand Rud'' in Iran) at the head of the [[Persian Gulf]], an important channel for the oil exports of both countries. In 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the long-standing dispute, which dated back to the Ottoman-Persian wars of the 16th and 17th centuries over the control of the Shatt al-Arab.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 7">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 7</ref> In the same year, Iran and Iraq both joined the [[Saadabad Pact]], and relations between the two nations remained good for decades afterwards.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 7"/> In 1955, both nations joined the [[Baghdad Pact]].<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 7"/> The 1937 treaty recognized the Iranian-Iraqi border as along the low-water mark on the eastern side of the Shatt al-Arab except at [[Abadan]] and [[Khorramshahr]] where the frontier ran along the ''[[thalweg]]'' (the deep water line) which gave Iraq control of almost the entire waterway; provided that all ships using the Shatt al-Arab fly the Iraqi flag and have an Iraqi pilot, and required Iran to pay tolls to Iraq whenever its ships used the Shatt al-Arab.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 8</ref>

The overthrow of the Hashemites in Iraq in 1958 brought to power a new regime that was more stridently nationalist, and which promptly left the Baghdad Pact. On 18 December 1959, the new leader of Iraq General [[Abdul Karim Qassim]], declared: "We do not wish to refer to the history of Arab tribes residing in Al-Ahwaz and Mohammareh [Khorramshahr]. The [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]s handed over Mohammareh, which was part of Iraqi territory, to Iran." The Iraqi regime's dissatisfaction with Iran's possession of the [[petroleum|oil]]-rich [[Khūzestān Province|Khūzestān]] province (which Iraqis called Arabistan) that had a large Arabic-speaking population was not limited to rhetorical statements; Iraq began supporting [[secession]]ist movements in Khuzestan, and even raised the issue of its territorial claims at the next meeting of the [[Arab League]], without success. Iraq showed reluctance in fulfilling existing agreements with Iran—especially after the death of Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] in 1970 and the rise of the [[Ba'ath Party]] which took power in a 1968 coup, led Iraq to take on the self-appointed role of the "leader of the [[Arab world]]". At the same time, by the late 1960s, the build-up of Iranian power under Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], who had gone on a gargantuan military spending spree, led Iran to take a more assertive stance in the Near East.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 7"/> In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab, and as such, Iran ceased paying tolls to Iraq when its ships used the Shatt al-Arab.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 7–8</ref> The Shah justified his move by arguing that almost all river borders all over the world ran along the ''thalweg'', and by claiming that because most of the ships that used the Shatt al-Arab were Iranian, the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran.<ref>Bulloch, John and Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', London: Methuen, 1989 page 37.</ref> Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but when on 24 April 1969 an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, Iraq being the militarily weaker state did nothing.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> In 1969, the deputy prime minister of Iraq stated: "Iraq's dispute with Iran is in connection with Arabistan (Khuzestan) which is part of Iraq's soil and was annexed to Iran during foreign rule." Soon Iraqi radio stations began exclusively{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} broadcasting into "Arabistan", encouraging Arabs living in Iran and even [[Baloch people|Balūchīs]] to revolt against the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]'s government. [[Basra]] TV stations even began showing Iran's Khuzestan province as part of Iraq's new province called [[Nasiriyyah]], renaming all its cities with [[Arabic language|Arabic]] names.

In 1971, Iraq broke diplomatic relations with Iran after claiming sovereignty rights over the islands of [[Abu Musa]], [[Greater and Lesser Tunbs|Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb]] in the Persian Gulf, following the withdrawal of the British.<ref name="Fendereski2005">{{cite web | title = 2005: Tonb (Greater and Lesser) | first = Guive |last= Fendereski
| publisher=www.iranica.com Eisenbrauns Inc.
| year =2005 }}</ref> Iraq then [[Confiscation|expropriated]] the properties of 70,000 people it said were Iraqis of Iranian origin and expelled them from its territory, after complaining to the Arab League and the UN without success. Many, if not most of those expelled were in fact Iraqi [[Shia]]s who had little to no family ties with Iran, and the vast majority of whom spoke Arabic, rather than Persian.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2783989.stm |work=BBC News  | first=Kathryn | last=Westcott | title=Iraq's rich mosaic of people | date=27 February 2003}}</ref> In retaliation for Iraq's claims to Khuzestan, Iran became the main patron of Iraq's [[Kurd]]ish rebels in the early 1970s, giving the Iraqi Kurds bases in Iran and providing the Kurdish groups with weapons.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> In addition to Iraq's fomenting of separatism in Iran's Khuzestan and [[Iranian Balochistan]] provinces, both countries encouraged separatist activities by Kurdish nationalists in the other country. In the winter of 1974–75, Iran and Iraq almost went to war over Iran's support of the Kurds in Iraq.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> However, given Iran's greater military strength and population, the Iraqis decided against war, and chose to make concessions to Tehran to end the Kurdish rebellion.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> In the [[1975 Algiers Agreement]] Iraq made territorial concessions – including the waterway – in exchange for normalized relations.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> In return for Iraqi recognition that the frontier on the Shatt al-Arab run along the entire ''thalweg'', Iran ended its support of the Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> The Algiers Agreement was widely seen as a national humiliation in Iraq.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/><ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 260">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 260.</ref> However, the Algiers Agreement meant the end of Iranian and US support for the ''[[Peshmerga]]'', who were defeated by the Iraqi government in a short campaign that claimed 20,000 lives.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 298">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 298.</ref> The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that "...the Iraqis celebrated their victory in the usual manner, by executing as many of the rebels as they could lay their hands on".<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 298"/>

In 1978 with Iran engulfed in a revolution, the Iraqi government under strong Iranian pressure expelled [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], an exiled leader of clerical opposition to the Shah, from Iraq. Afterwards, Khomenini settled in Paris.

===After the Islamic Revolution===
{{See also|Islamic Revolution|Iranian Embassy Siege|Modern usage of al-Qādisiyyah}}
<!-- Commented out: [[File:Saddam-Iraqi-25-dinar.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Iraqi 25-[[Iraqi dinar|dinar]] note, as with the [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah]] depicted in the background]] -->
Iran's [[Pan-Islamism]] and revolutionary [[Shia]] [[Islamism]] and Iraq's [[Arab nationalism]] were central to the conflict. Initially, the Iraqi government welcomed the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1978–79, having had a common enemy with them in the deposed Shah.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 13">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 13</ref> The call, first made by Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] in June 1979 for Iraqi Shias to overthrow the Ba'ath regime was therefore received with considerable shock in Baghdad.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 13"/> On 17 July 1979, despite Khomeini's call, the Iraqi President [[Saddam Hussein]] gave a speech praising the Iranian revolution, and called for Iraqi-Iranian friendship based upon non-interference in each other's internal affairs.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 13"/> When Khomenini ignored Hussein's overture, and continued with his call for a Shia revolution in Iraq, the Iraqi regime was seriously alarmed.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 13–14</ref> The new Islamic regime in Iran was regarded in Baghdad as an irrational, existential threat to the Ba'ath regime.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 14">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 14</ref> This was especially the case as the Ba'ath regime, despite its secular nature, was dominated by Arab [[Sunni]]s, with the Arab Shia majority together with the Kurdish minority being assigned the status of an underclass.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 16</ref>

Above all, Hussein was keenly interested in elevating Iraq to a strong regional power{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}
. A successful invasion of Iran would enlarge Iraq's petroleum reserves and make Iraq the dominant power in the Persian Gulf region {{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}. With Iran engulfed in chaos, the chance for Iraq to annex the oil-rich [[Khūzestān Province]] seemed too good for Hussein to pass up.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 261">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 261.</ref> In addition, Khuzestan's large ethnic Arab population would allow Hussein to pose as the liberator of the Arabs from Persian rule.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 260"/> In 1979–80, Iraq was the beneficiary of an oil boom that saw it take in $33&nbsp;billion US, which allowed the Iraqi government to go on a lavish spending spree on both civilian and military projects.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 14"/> On several occasions Hussein [[Modern usage of al-Qādisiyyah#Qādisiyyat-Ṣaddām: The Iran-Iraq War|alluded to]] the [[Islamic conquest of Iran]] in propagating his position against Iran. For example, on 2 April 1980, half a year before the outbreak of the war, in a visit by Hussein to al-Mustansiriyyah University in Baghdad, drawing parallels with the 7th century defeat of Persia in the [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah]], he announced:

<BLOCKQUOTE>In your name, brothers, and on behalf of the Iraqis and Arabs everywhere we tell those Persian cowards and dwarfs who try to avenge Al-Qadisiyah that the spirit of Al-Qadisiyah as well as the blood and honor of the people of Al-Qadisiyah who carried the message on their spearheads are greater than their attempts."<ref>Speech made by Saddam Hussein. Baghdad, ''Voice of the Masses'' in Arabic, 1200 GMT 2 April 1980. FBIS-MEA-80-066. 3 April 1980, E2-3. E3</ref></BLOCKQUOTE>

In turn the [[Ayatollah]] Khomeini believed Muslims, particularly the Shias in Iraq, [[Saudi Arabia]], and [[Kuwait]], whom he saw as oppressed, could and should follow the Iranian example, rise up against their governments to join a united Islamic republic.<ref>{{cite book
| title = Islam and Revolution: Writing and Declarations of Imam Khomeini
| author=Khomeini,Ruhollah and Algar, Hamid (translator)
| publisher=Mizan Press
| year = 1981
| page = 122}}</ref> Khomeini and Iran's Islamic revolutionaries despised Hussein's [[secularist]], Arab nationalist Ba'athist regime in particular as un-Islamic and "a puppet of Satan,"<ref name="Macket1996">{{cite book
| author=Mackey, Sandra
| title = The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation
| publisher=Dutton
| year = 1996
| page = 317}}</ref> and called on Iraqis to overthrow it. In 1979–1980, there were anti-Ba'ath riots in the Shia areas of Iraq, and the Iranian government extended its support to Iraqi Shia militants working for an Islamic revolution in their country.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 12–13</ref> In April 1980 alone, 20 Ba'ath officials were assassinated by Shia militants with Deputy Prime Minister [[Tariq Aziz]] being almost killed in an assassination attempt on 1 April 1980.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 13"/> Later in April, the Information Minister [[Latif Nusseif al-Jasim]] barely survived an assassination attempt by Shia militants.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 13"/> The repeated calls for the overthrow of the Ba'ath regime and the support extented to Iraqi Shia groups by the new regime in Iran led Hussein to increasingly perceive the Iranian regime as a mortal threat that if ignored, might one day overthrow him.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 14"/> In April 1980, Ayatollah [[Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr]] and his sister Amina Haydar (better known as [[Bint al-Huda]]) were hanged as part of the crack-down on Iraqi Shia activists.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 27</ref> The hanging of Iraq's senior most Ayatollah caused outrage throughout the Shia world. Starting in May 1980, skirmishes on the Iranian-Iraqi border became a daily event.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 14"/> At the same time in Iran, severe officer purges (including several executions ordered by [[Sadegh Khalkhali]], the post-revolution ''[[sharia]]'' ruler), and spare parts shortages for Iran's US-made equipment, had crippled Iran's once mighty [[military of Iran|military]]. Between February–September 1979, the Iranian government shot 85 senior generals while forcing all major-generals and most brigadier-generals into early retirement.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 19">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 19</ref> By September 1980, the Iranian government had purged 12,000 army officers.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 19"/> The effects of this purge was a drastic decline in the operational capacities of the Iranian military.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 19"/>  The bulk of the Iranian military was made up of poorly armed, though committed, [[militia]]s. Iran had minimal defenses at the Shatt al-Arab river.

The [[UN Secretary General]] report dated 9 December 1991 (S/23273){{Clarify|date=January 2008}} explicitly cites "Iraq's aggression against Iran" in starting the war and breaching international security and peace.<ref>{{Cite journal
| first = R.K. Ramazani
| title = Who started the Iran–Iraq War?
| journal=Virginia Journal of International Law
| volume =33
| date = Fall 1992
| pages = 69–89
| url = http://www.student.virginia.edu/~vjil
}} {{Dead link|date=June 2010}}</ref>

==War==
===Iraqi pretext for war and Iraqi war aims===
Iraq's pretext was an alleged assassination attempt on [[Foreign Minister]] [[Tariq Aziz]] in southern Iraq, which Saddam blamed on "Iranian agents", in one of his speeches{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}.

[[File:Shatt al arab.png|thumb|right|The [[Shatt al-Arab]] waterway on the Iran–Iraq border]]
Relations deteriorated rapidly until in March 1980, Iran unilaterally downgraded its diplomatic ties to the [[charge d'affaires]] level, withdrew its ambassador, and demanded that Iraq do the same. The tension increased in April following the attempted assassination of Aziz and, three days later, the bombing of a funeral procession being held to bury students who had died in an earlier attack. Iraq blamed Iran, and in September, attacked.<ref name="Cruze1988" />

[[File:Iranian Resistance.jpg|thumb|right|210px|An armed Iranian militia woman in front of a mosque during the Iraqi invasion of [[Khorramshahr]], September–October 1980]]
On 17 September, in a statement addressed to the Iraqi parliament, Saddam stated that "The frequent and blatant Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty...have rendered the [[1975 Algiers Agreement]] null and void... This river...must have its Iraqi-Arab identity restored as it was throughout history in name and in reality with all the disposal rights emanating from full sovereignty over the river.",<ref name="Karsh">{{cite book
| title = The Iran–Iraq War, 1980–1988
| first = Efraim |last=Karsh
| page = 22
| publisher=Osprey Publishing
| year = 2002}}</ref>

The objectives of Iraq's invasion of Iran were{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}:
#Control of the Shatt al-Arab waterway by Iraqis
#Acquisition of the three islands of [[Abu Musa]] and the [[Greater and Lesser Tunbs]], on behalf of the [[UAE]]
#Annexation of Khuzestan to Iraq
#Prevent the spread of the Islamic Revolution in the region

===1980: Iraqi invasion===
[[File:Locator map Iran Khuzestan Province.png|thumb|Khūzestān [[Provinces of Iran|Province of Iran]], native name, استان خوزستان]]
Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The [[Iraqi Air Force]] launched surprise airstrikes on ten Iranian airfields with the objective of destroying the [[Iranian Air Force]] on the ground.<ref name="TKR">{{cite book
  | title = The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988
  | page = 22
  | url =
  | id =
  | isbn =}}</ref> The attack demolished some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft. The Iraqi Air Force was only able to strike in depth with a few [[MiG-23BN]], [[Tu-22]] and [[Su-20]] aircraft, largely ineffective due to Iran's sheer size. Three MiG-23s managed to attack [[Tehran]], striking its airport but damaging only a few aircraft.<ref name="Cordesman1990">{{cite book
| title = The Lessons of Modern War: Volume Two – The Iran-Iraq Conflict
| author=Cordesman, Anthony and Wagner,Abraham R.
| publisher=Westview
| year = 1990
| page = 102}}</ref> The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion of Iran along a front measuring 644 kilometres, in three simultaneous thrusts.<ref name="TKR" />  The purpose of the invasion, according to Saddam, was to blunt the edge of Khomeini's movement and to thwart his attempt to [[export of revolution|export his Islamic revolution]] to Iraq and the Persian Gulf states."<ref name="Cruze1988">{{Cite document
| title =  Iran and Iraq: Perspectives in Conflict
| volume = report
| first = Gregory S.
| series =  research | last = Cruze
| publisher=U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College
| url = http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1988/CGS.htm
| date = Spring 1988
}}</ref> Saddam hoped that by annexing the oil-rich province of Khuzestan that he would send such a blow to the prestige of the Islamic Republic, that it would lead to the downfall of the new government, or at very least put an end to Iranian calls for his overthrow.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 27">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 27</ref>

Of the six Iraqi divisions that were invading, four were sent against the Iranian province of [[Khuzestan]], which was located near the southern end of the border, to cut off the [[Shatt al-Arab]] from the rest of Iran, and to establish a territorial security zone.<ref name="TKR" />  The other two divisions invaded through the northern and central part of the border, to prevent an Iranian counter-attack into Iraq.<ref name="FKR">{{cite book
  | title = The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988
  | page = 23
  | url =
  | id =
  | isbn =}}</ref>  Two of the four Iraqi divisions operating near the southern end, one mechanized and one armored, began a siege of the strategically important towns of [[Abadan, Iran|Abadan]] and [[Khorramshahr]].<ref name="TKR" />

The other two divisions, both armoured, secured the territory bounded by the line Khorramshahr-Ahvaz-Susangerd-Musian, due to an enveloping movement.<ref name="TKR" />  On the central front, the Iraqis occupied [[Mehran, Ilam Province|Mehran]], advanced towards the foothills of the [[Zagros Mountains]]; and were able to block the traditional Tehran–Baghdad invasion route by securing some territory forward of [[Qasr-e Shirin]].<ref name="FKR" />  On the northern front, the Iraqis attempted to establish a strong defensive position opposite [[Suleimaniya]] to protect the Iraqi Kirkuk oil complex.<ref name="FKR" /> Iraqi hopes of an uprising by the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan failed to occur, and most the ethnic Arabs, who were Shitte remained loyal to Iran.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 27"/> The Iraqi troops advancing into Iran in 1980 were described by the British journalist Patrick Brogan as "badly led and lacking in offensive spirit..."<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 261"/>

The Iranian regular military and the [[Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution|Pasdaran]] resisted, but conducted their operations separately. As a result, the Iraqi invading forces did not face co-ordinated resistance.<ref name="FKR" /> The Pasdaran fought against the Iraqi invasion with "great fervour and tenacity",<ref name="NTwo" /> and bore the brunt of the invasion.<ref name="NThree">{{cite book
  | title = The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988
  | page = 25
  | url =
  | id =
  | isbn =}}</ref> By the second day of the invasion, dozens of Iranian [[F-4 Phantom|F-4s]] attacked Iraqi targets, and in a few days the [[Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force]] gained air superiority over the Iraqis, allowing them to conduct ground attack missions with fighter-bombers and helicopters against Iraqi forces. The Iraqi Army was also subjected to attacks by entrenched Iranian artillery.<ref name="Modern Warfare">"Modern Warfare: Iran-Iraq War" (Film Documentary)</ref> On 24 September, though, the [[Iranian Navy]] attacked [[Basra]] and, on the way, had destroyed two oil terminals near the Iraqi port of [[Fao]], which reduced Iraq's ability to export oil.<ref name="NOne">{{cite book
  | title = The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988
  | page = 29
  | url =
  | id =
  | isbn =}}</ref>  The [[Iranian Air Force]] also began air strikes in September against strategically important Iraqi targets, including oil facilities, dams, petrochemical plants, and a nuclear reactor near Baghdad.<ref name="NOne" />

On 28 September, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution urging Iran and Iraq to stop the fighting and accept mediation. The Iraqi invasion encountered unexpectedly fierce resistance, however, and by December 1980 it stalled. Also, rather than turning against the Islamic Republic as some experts had predicted, the people of Iran rallied around their country and resisted. An estimated 200,000 additional troops arrived at the front by November, many of them "ideologically committed" volunteers.<ref name="GlobalSecIIWar">{{cite web| url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm | title =Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | publisher=Globalsecurity.org (John Pike)}}</ref> The war caused an upsurge in Islamic fervor and Persian nationalism as the Islamic Republic presented the war as a ''jihad'' that would literally end evil not just in Iraq, but the entire world.<ref>Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 pages 367-368.</ref> Despite the universal claims of Islam, Khomeini side-stepped the contradiction by arguing that the Iranians were an especially virtuous people as proven by their overthrowing the Shah and establishing the Islamic Republic, and as such, it was the Iranian nation that had been chosen by Allah as His instrument to end ''jahiliyyah'' ("barbarous ignorance"-i.e. not to be a Muslim or a proper Muslism) over the entire earth.<ref>Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 367.</ref> The secular Baath regime in Iraq was presented as the embodiment of depraved ''jahiliyyah'', a willing instrument of pure Satanic evil and the war as a blessed opportunity offered by Allah to destroy such a disgraceful foe and to export the Islamic revolution to the rest of the world.<ref>Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 366.</ref> Reflecting this world-view, Khomeini in his first radio address to the Iranian nation announced: "You are fighting to protect Islam and he [Hussein] is fighting to destroy it".<ref>Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 366.</ref> In the same speech, Khomeini announced that the dispute over the Shatt-al-Arab river was meaningless and the ''only'' war aim he held was the utter destruction of the Baath regime in Iraq and its replacement with an Islamic republic.<ref>Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 366.</ref> Likewise, a leading Iranian official Hujjatul Islam Sadeq Khalkhali stated in a press conference: "We have taken the path of true Islam and our aim in defeating Saddam lies in the fact that we consider Saddam the main obstacle to the advance of Islam in the region".<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''Islamic Imperialism A History'', New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006 page 217.</ref> Khomeini's call for a ''jihad'' to depose the Baath in Iraq generated much enthusiasm and hundreds of thousands of young men volunteered to become "martyrs" in the ''jihad'' by willing embarking on a "human wave" attacks against the Iraqis.<ref>Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 pages 367-368.</ref>           

Baghdad was subjected to eight air attacks by 1 October.<ref name="NOne" />  In response to these air attacks, Iraq launched a number of aerial strikes against Iranian targets.<ref name="NOne" /> In October 1980, a prolonged urban battle took place for [[Khorramshahr]] with both sides losing about 7, 000 dead.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 27"/> Reflecting the bloody nature of the struggle, both sides came to call Khorramshar "Khunistan" (City of Blood).<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 27"/> On 24 October, [[Khorramshahr]] was finally captured<ref name="NTwo">{{cite book
  | title = The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988
  | page = 27
  | url =
  | id =
  | isbn =}}</ref> and by November, Saddam ordered his forces to advance towards [[Dezful]] and [[Ahvaz]],<ref name="NOne" /> but their thrusts were repulsed.<ref name="NOne" /> On 7 December 1980 Saddam announced that Iraq was going on the defensive.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 30">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 30</ref> For the next eight months, both sides were with the exception of the [[Battle of Dezful]] to be on the defensive as the Iranians needed more time to reorganize their forces to undo the damage inflicted by the purge of 1979–80.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> During this period, the war consisted mainly of artillery duels and raids.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 30"/> Iraq had mobilized 21 divisions for the invasion, while Iran countered with only 13 regular army divisions and one brigade. Of these divisions, only seven were deployed to the border.

===1981: Stalemate===
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[File:Iraqi stamp.jpg|180px|left|thumb| Iraqi stamp depicting the original Battle of [[al-Qādisiyyah]] and the Iran–Iraq War which Saddam referred to as "Saddam's al-Qādisiyyah"]] -->
On 5 January 1981 the Iranians launched an armoured offensive at [[Susangerd]] that saw the Iranians break through the Iraqi lines.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 31–32</ref> However, the Iranian tanks raced through the Iraqi lines with their flanks outprotected, and as a result, the Iranian armoured division was cut off by Iraqi tanks.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 32">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 32</ref> In the ensuring battle, the Iranian division was almost totally destroyed in one of the biggest tank battles of the entire war.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 32"/> The Iraqis lost 50 [[T-62]] tanks while the Iranians lost 100 [[Chieftain tank|Chieftain]] and [[M60 Patton|M-60]] tanks.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 32"/> The [[Battle of Dezful]] had been ordered by President [[Abulhassan Banisadr]] who was hoping that a victory might shore up his deteriorating political position; instead the failure of the offensive helped to hasten his fall.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 71</ref> A major distraction for Iran was the internal fighting between the regime and the leftish ''[[Mujaheddin e-Khalq]]'' group on the streets of Iran's major cities in June 1981 and again in September.<ref>Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', Bloomsbury: London, 1989 pages 250-251</ref>

In May 1981, the Iranians retook the high ground above Susangerd, and in September 1981, the Iranians put an end to the Iraqi [[Siege of Abadan]], which had commenced in November 1980.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 33</ref> By the fall of 1981, serious morale problems had developed in the Iraqi Army with many Iraqi soldiers seeing no point to the invasion of Iran.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 34">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 34</ref> On 29 November 1981 Iran began [[Operation Tariq al-Qods]] (Operation Jerusalem Way) with three Army brigades and seven Revolutionary Guard brigades retaking the town of [[Bostan, Iran|Bostan]] from the Iraqi division that was holding it by 7 December.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 34"/> Operation Jerusalem Way saw the first use of the Iranian "human wave" tactics with the Revolutionary Guard charging the Iraqi positions time after time without the support of artillery or air power until victory.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 35">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 35</ref> The fall of Bostan massively increased the Iraqi logistical problems as to supply their troops, Iraq was forced to use the roundabout route from Ahvaz far to the south.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 35"/>

===1982: Iraqi retreat, Iranian offensive===
====Iran victorious====
[[File:Khorramshahr POWs crop.jpg|thumb|Demoralized Iraqi soldiers taken [[PoW]] at Khorramshahr]]
For about a year after the Iraqi offensive stalled in March 1981 there was little change in the front, but in mid-March 1982 Iran took the offensive and the Iraqi military was forced to retreat. By June 1982, an Iranian counter-offensive had recovered all the areas lost to Iraq earlier in the war. In [[Operation Jerusalem]] launched on 24 April 1982, 70, 000 Revolutionary Guardsmen using infiltration tactics at night and human wave attacks by day had by 12 May drove all Iraqi forces out of the Susangerd area.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 36">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 36</ref> On 20 May 1982 the Iranians began the drive towards Khorramsahr.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 36"/> An especially significant battle of this counter-offensive in the Khuzestan province was the [[Liberation of Khorramshahr]] from the Iraqis on 24 May 1982. A total of 7,000 Iraqis were killed or wounded in Khorramshahr<ref>[[John Keegan]]:''The Iraq War''</ref> and 19,000 taken prisoner, while the Iranians had suffered 10,000 casualties.

Saddam decided to withdraw his armed forces completely from Iran, and that they should be deployed along the international border between Iraq and Iran.<ref name="FKR" />  [[Efraim Karsh]] states that Saddam made this choice because the Iraqi leader believed that his army was now too demoralised and damaged to hold onto any territory in Iran, and that Iran could be successfully resisted through a line of defence on Iraqi land near the border.<ref name="FKR" /> Equally important, in April 1982 the rival Baathist regime in Syria at the request of Iran closed the [[Kirkuk–Banias pipeline]] that allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers on the Mediterranean, which reduced the Iraqi budget by $5&nbsp;billion US/month.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 68">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 68</ref> The effects of the Syrian move was to place Iraq under dire financial pressure.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 68"/> The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote: <blockquote>"From the time the southern front stabilized at the end of 1980, Iran was able to prevent all Iraqi oil exports through the Shatt. In April 1982, as the tide of war turned against Iraq, Syria closed Iraq's pipeline to the Mediterranean, and it appeared for a while that Iraq would be strangled economically before it was defeated militarily".<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 263">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 263.</ref></blockquote> After Syria closed the pipeline, Iraq's only means of exporting oil was the pipeline to Turkey that had a capacity of only 500, 000 barrels/day that was quite insufficient to pay for the war.<ref name="Bulloch, John page 160">Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 160</ref> Only generous financial support from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the other Gulf states, who feared the consequences of an Iranian victory saved Iraq from bankruptcy.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 69">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 69</ref> It was estimated that the Gulf states provided Iraq with an average of $60 billion US in subsides/per year.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 263"/> Brogan wrote in 1989: <blockquote>"The other Arab states came to the rescue. Iraq has one of the most unpleasant governments in the region and had shown constant hostility to the monarchies in Jordan, the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. However, the threat of Persian fundamentalism was far more to be feared, and thus the conservative Arab states could not afford to let Iraq be defeated."<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 263"/></blockquote> The Gulf states were especially inclined to fear an Iranian victory after Khomeini announced that monarchy was an illegitimate and un-Islamic form of government.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 69"/> Khomeini's statement was widely understood as a call for the overthrow of the Gulf monarchies.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 69"/> Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had less than friendly relations with Iraq before 1982, and the reluctant decision to support Iraq was taken only because the consequences of an Iranian victory were considered worse than the continued existence of Saddam's regime.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 162-163</ref> The British journalists John Bulloch and Harvey Morris wrote:<blockquote>"The virulent Iranian campaign, which at its peak seemed to be making the overthrow of the Saudi regime a war aim on a par with the defeat of Iraq, did have an effect on the Kingdom, but not the one the Iranians wanted: instead of becoming more conciliatory, the Saudis became tougher, more self-confident, and less prone to seek compromise".<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 163</ref></blockquote> Saudi Arabia was said to provide Iraq with $1 billion US/month starting in mid-1982.<ref name="Bulloch, John page 160"/>
====Khomenini chooses war====
On 20 June 1982 Saddam announced that he was prepared to accept a ceasefire on the basis of the pre-war ''status quo''.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 36"/> Khomeini rejected the Iraqi peace offer, and announced that only the overthrow of the Baath regime and its replacement with an Shia Islamic republic were the only peace terms he would accept.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 36"/> Given that Saddam's offer of 1982 served as the basis of the 1988 ceasefire, Khomeini's decision to reject Saddam's offer, and instead invade Iraq extended the war for the next six years.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 11 & 147.</ref> Bulloch and Morris wrote: <blockquote>"If the leaders in Tehran had accepted [the Iraqi ceasefire offer], they might have gained at the conference table what over six years they failed to achieve at a huge cost in men and material; but true to the bitterness and intransigence shown by both sides, Ayatollah Khomeini rejected the ceasefire offer and the Iranian troops fought on. Iran would remain at war until all of its demands were met, the Ayatollah said-and one of those demands was the removal of Saddam Hussein, the one condition which the Iraqi President could never accept"<ref name="Bulloch, John page 147">Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 147</ref></blockquote> On 21 June 1982 Khomenini proclaimed in a speech that Iran would invade Iraq and would not stop until an Islamic Shia republic was set up in that country.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 36"/> The decision to invade Iraq was taken after much debate within the Iranian government.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 38">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 38</ref> One fraction comprising Prime Minister [[Mir-Hossein Mousavi]], the Foreign Minister [[Ali Akbar Velayati]], President [[Ali Khamenei]] and the Army Chief of Staff General [[Ali Sayad Shirazi]] urged that now that all of Iranian soil had been liberated to accept the Iraqi ceasefire offer rather embark upon an invasion that was likely to take a heavy toll on Iran's youth and with uncertain prospects for victory.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 38"/> In particular, General Shirazi was opposed to the invasion of Iraq on logistical grounds and said he was considering resignation if "unqualified people continued to meddle with the conduct of the war".<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 38"/> On the other side, there was a hardline fraction led by clerics on the Supreme Defence Council, whose leader was the politically powerful Speaker of the ''Majlis'' [[Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]] who favored continuing the war until the Baath were overthrown.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 38"/> Khomeini sided with the hardliners.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 38"/> Khomeini's decision to reject the Iraqi ceasefire offer and not stop until an Islamic republic had been installed in Baghdad was one of his more controversial and unpopular decisions ever, indeed so controversial that in what the Iranian-American historian [[Ray Takeyh]] called "a grotesque act of historical revisionism", Khomeini's son Ali Khomeini tried to claim that his father was for accepting the ceasefire offer, but was overruled.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 pages 370.</ref>In Baghdad, at a cabinet meeting, the minister of health Dr. Riyadh Ibrahim Hussein suggested that Hussein step down temporarily as a way of easing Iran towards a ceasefire.<ref name="Bulloch, John page 147"/> An annoyed Saddam asked if anyone else in the Cabinet agreed with the Health Minister's idea. None raised that hands in support, and Dr. Hussein was shot later that day for treason.<ref name="Bulloch, John page 147"/>

Under the slogans "War, War until Victory" and "The Road to Jerusalem Goes through Karbala",<ref>Abrahamian, ''History of Modern Iran'', pp. 171, 175.</ref> Iran advanced. A tactic used in this advance noted throughout the world was the glorification of death among young Iranian [[basij]] volunteers who launched suicidal human wave attacks on Iraqi positions. The volunteers were inspired before battle by tales of [[Day of Ashura|Ashura]], the [[Battle of Karbala]], and the supreme glory of [[Istishhad|martyrdom]], and sometimes by an actor (usually a more mature soldier), playing the part of [[Husayn ibn Ali|Imam Hossein]] himself riding a white horse, galloping along the lines, providing the inexperienced soldiers a vision of "the hero who would lead them into their fateful battle before they met their God."<ref>Majd, Hooman, ''The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran'', by Hooman Majd, Doubleday, 2008, page 146</ref> The "martyrs" signed "Passports to Paradise" as admission forms to the Basij were called, given a week of basic military training by the Pasdaran, and then were sent to the front.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 38"/> The ''basij'' voluteers who were usually in their early teens wore wooden keys around their necks (to open the doors of Heaven when they "martyred" themselves). These young boys were told by their officers that there was not higher glory than to die for Allah, who would reward them for their deaths by providing them with 72 beautiful virgins for them to have sex with for all eternity.  These attacks cost Iran massive casualties, as they were met with fierce resistance from defensive positions, along with artillery and rocket fire.<ref name="Modern Warfare"/> A great advantage that the Iraqis were to enjoy in the defense of their country was logistical.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 265">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 265.</ref> The front was close to all of the main Iraqi bases and arms depots, and Iraq's excellent roads allowed the Iraqi Army to be efficiently supplied.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 260"/> By contrast, the front in Iraq was a considerable distance from the main Iranian bases and arms depots, and as such, Iranian troops and supplies had to travel through difficult roads across several mountain ranges before arriving at the front.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 260"/>

On 13 July, the Iranian units crossed the border in force, aiming towards the city of [[Basra]], the second most important city in Iraq. However, the enemy they encountered had entrenched itself in formidable defenses.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 37">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 37</ref> Unlike the hastily improvised defenses that the Iraqis had manned in Iran during the 1980–1981 occupation of the conquered territories, the border defenses were, by necessity, well developed even before the war, and the Iraqis were able to utilize a highly-developed network of bunkers and artillery fire-bases.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 37"/> Unlike the fighting in Iran, Iraqi morale improved in 1982 when the Iraqis were fighting in the defense of their nation.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 69"/> Most Arab Iraqis, regardless if they were Sunni or Shia did not wish to live under Persian rule. The Iranians mistakenly believed that they would be welcome as liberators by the Arab Shiites of Iraq, and did not understand the depth of Iraqi nationalism.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 372.</ref> Saddam had also more than doubled the size of the Iraqi army from 200,000 soldiers (12 divisions and 3 independent brigades) to 500, 000 (23 divisions and nine brigades).<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 37"/>

Saddam's efforts bore fruit. Iran had been using combined-arms operations to great effect when it was attacking the Iraqi troops in its country, and had launched the iconic human-wave attacks with great support from artillery, aircraft, and tanks. However, lack of ammunition meant that the Iranians were now launching human-wave assaults with no support from other branches of the military. The superior defenses of the Iraqis meant that tens of thousands of Iranian soldiers were lost in most operations after 1982, and the Iraqi defenses would continue to hold in most sectors. During the advance on Basra, the Basij were used to clear the Iraqi minefields with their feet in order to allow the Pasdaran to advance.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 37"/> In the Basra offensive, or [[Operation Ramadan]], five human-wave attacks were met with withering fire from the Iraqis. The boy-soldiers of Iran were particularly hard-hit, especially since they volunteered to run into minefields, in order to clear the way for the Iranian soldiers behind them. The Iranians were also hard-hit by the employment of chemical weapons and mustard gas by the Iraqis.

In 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. started to back Iraq,  supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 [[Six-Day War]]), and also supplying "dual-use" equipment and vehicles. Dual use items are civilian items such as heavy trucks, armored ambulances and communications gear as well as industrial technology that can have a military application.<ref name="King2003-03">{{Cite document
| url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php
| title = Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S. Involvement
| first = John | last = King
| date = March 2003
| publisher=Iran Chamber Society
}}</ref> President Ronald Reagan decided that the United States "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that the United States "would do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran."<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq61.pdf Statement by former NSC official Howard Teicher] to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida. [http://www.webcitation.org/5flvP0UgC Plain text version]</ref> President Reagan formalized this policy by issuing a National Security Decision Directive ("NSDD") to this effect in June, 1982. The Security Council passed [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 552|Resolution 552]] condemning attacks on commercial ships in the region.

===1983–84: Strategic stalemate===
[[File:Karte Frontverläufe im ersten Golfkrieg.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Furthest ground gains.]]

[[File:Khamenei in battlefield.jpg|thumb|170px|right|[[Ali Khamenei]], with Iranian soldiers on the front-line. Khamenei opposed Khomeini's decision to extend the war into Iraq.<ref name="SKR">{{cite book
  | title = The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988
  | page = 41
  | url =
  | id =
  | isbn =}}</ref>]]

In January 1983, an Iraqi-Soviet arms deal was signed in Moscow, which led to the Soviet Union supplying Iraq with T-62 and T-72 tanks; Mig-23 and Mig-25 jets; and SS-21 and Scud-B missiles.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 43">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 43</ref> By 1987, the Soviet Union had provided Iraq with 800 T-72 tanks, and dozens upon dozens of modern fighters and bombers.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 43"/> Between 1980–82, France had supplied Iraq with $5.6&nbsp;billion US worth of weapons such as fighters, tanks, self-propelled guns and helicopters.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 43"/> In 1983, France, which was extremely close to the Iraqi regime signed an arms deal to sell Iraq Super Étendard jet fighters which brought the important Iranian oil fields on Khark island within striking range.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 374.</ref>

After the failure of their 1982 summer offensives, Iran believed that a major effort along the entire breadth of the front would yield the victory that they desired. Iranian numerical superiority might have achieved a break-through if they had attacked across all parts of the front at the same time, but they still lacked the organization for that type of assault. Iran was getting supplies from countries such as North Korea, Libya, and China. The Iraqis had more suppliers such as the [[USSR]], the [[NATO]] nations, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, [[Yugoslavia]], Spain, Italy, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the United States.

During the course of 1983, the Iranians launched five major assaults along the front.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 40">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 40</ref> None met with substantial success as the Iranians staged massive "human wave" attacks on well-dug Iraqi positions without artillery, air or armored support.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 40"/> Khomeini's position on a truce remained unchanged.

On 7 February 1984, Saddam ordered aerial and missile attacks against the eleven cities that he had designated.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 41">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 41</ref>  The bombardment ceased on 22 February 1984. Iran soon retaliated against Iraqi urban centers, and these exchanges become known as the first "war of the cities". There would be five such exchanges throughout the course of the war. The so-called "war of the cities" was an attempt by Iraq to break Iranian morale on the home front and force Iran to accept the ceasefire offer of 1982.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 374.</ref> The attacks on the Iranian cities did not destroy the Iranian government's resolve to fight. On 15 February, 1984 the Iranians launched a major attack against the central section of the front where the Second Iraqi Army Corps was deployed with 250,000 Iranians faced 250,000 Iraqis.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 41"/> The Iranian "final blow" offensives entitled Operation Dawn 5 (5–22 February 1984) and Dawn 6 (22–24 February 1984) saw the Iranians attempting to take Kut al-Amara and sever the highway connecting Baghdad to Basra. Capture of this road would have made it extremely difficult for the Iraqis to supply and co-ordinate the defenses, but the Iranian forces only came within {{convert|15|mi|km}} of the highway. After advancing to within {{convert|15|mi|km}} of the highway after much heavy fighting, on 24 February, the Iranians began Operation Khaibar, the offensive intended to take Basr, which ended in failure as the Iraqi trenches proved to be too tough of a nut for the Iranians to crack.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 42">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 42</ref>

However, [[Operation Khaibar]] met with much greater success. The Iranians fought their way through the marshes of southern Iraq to take Majnun Island, {{convert|40|mi|km}} to north of Basra.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 42"/> Involving a number of thrusts towards the key Iraqi city of [[Basra]], the operation started on the 24 February and lasted until 19 March. The Iraqi defenses, under continuous strain since 15 February, seemed close to breaking conclusively. The Iraqis were saved by use of a defense-in-depth with one defensive line after another; even if the Iranians stormed through the first line, they were usually so exhausted and had taken such heavy losses that attempts to storm through the second line resulted in failure.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 171.</ref> The Iraqis successfully stabilized the front but not before the Iranians captured part of the [[Majnun Islands]]. Despite a heavy Iraqi counterattack coupled with the use of [[mustard gas]] and [[sarin]] [[nerve gas]], the Iranians held their gains and would continue to hold them almost until the end of the war.<ref name="GlobalSecIIWar"/> The Iranian offensive ended on 19 March 1984 after much desperate fighting in the marsh land with the Iraqis making heavy use of chemical weapons to halt the Iranian advance on Basra, through the Iraqis failed in their attempts to re-take Majnun.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 42"/> At least 3,000 Iranians were killed in the fighting in the marshes with Iraqi helicopter gunships being deployed to "hunt" the Iranian troops in the marshes.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 42"/>

===1984: 'Tanker War' in Persian Gulf===
[[File:Frigate of Iran in Tanker War.JPG|thumb|250px|An Iranian frigate during the tanker war]]
The Tanker War started when Iraq attacked Iranian tankers and the oil terminal at [[Kharg Island]] in early 1984.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 50">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 50</ref> Iran struck back by attacking tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait and then any tanker of the Persian Gulf states supporting Iraq. Both nations attacked oil tankers and merchant ships, including those of neutral nations, in an effort to deprive the opponent of trade. Iraq declared that all ships going to or from Iranian ports in the northern zone of the Persian Gulf were subject to attack.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 50"/> Saddam's hope in beginning the "tanker war" was that in response to Iraqi attacks against its shipping, the Iranians might do something extreme in retaliation such as closing the [[Strait of Hormuz]] to all shipping.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 50"/> The United States had threatened several times to go to war if the Strait of Hormuz was closed, and if the United States went to war with Iran, the war would be won for Iraq.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 50"/> For this reason, the Iranians refused to rise to the bait, and so limited their attacks in retaliation to Iraqi shipping.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 51">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 51</ref> Iran attacked tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait and then any tanker of the Persian Gulf states supporting Iraq. The air and small boat attacks did very little damage to Persian Gulf state economies and Iran just moved its shipping port to [[Larak Island]] in the [[strait of Hormuz]].<ref name="Dugdale2002">{{cite web
| first = TDP | last = Dugdale-Pointon
| date = 27 October 2002
| title = Tanker War 1984–1988  | url = http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_tanker.html
}}</ref>

Iraq used its air power to enforce its threats, primarily helicopters, F-1 Mirage and MiG-23 fighters armed with [[Exocet]] anti-ship missiles. After repeated Iraqi attacks on Iran's main exporting facility on [[Bushehr Province#Kharg Island (Khark Island)|Khark Island]], Iran attacked a Kuwaiti tanker near Bahrain on 13 May 1984, and a Saudi tanker in Saudi waters on 16 May. Attacks on ships of noncombatant nations in the Persian Gulf sharply increased thereafter, and this phase of the Iraq-Iran war was dubbed the "Tanker War." The Iranian attacks against Saudi shipping led to Saudi F-15s shooting down an Iranian aircraft on 5 June 1984.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 51"/>

[[File:Cargo Ship under attack in Tanker war.JPG|thumb|Cargo Ship under attack]]

Though the "tanker war" alarmed the United States, it was not followed up with any significant American action until 1987.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 51"/> After several Iranian attacks on Kuwaiti shipping, the American Navy started in March 1987 to escort Kuwaiti tankers provided that they flew the American flag.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 51"/> In April 1987, the Soviet Navy also started escorting Kuwaiti tankers.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 51"/> A US Navy ship, the [[USS Stark]] was struck on 17 May 1987, by two [[Exocet]] antiship missiles fired from an Iraqi [[F-1 Mirage]]<ref>http://www.jag.navy.mil/library/investigations/USS%20STARK%20BASIC.pdf</ref><ref>[http://books.google.fr/books?id=erVzmflT2MIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false Desert Storm at sea: what the Navy really did by Marvin Pokrant], P 43.</ref> plane. The Iraqi fighter fired the Exocet missiles at about the time the fighter was given a routine radio warning by the ''Stark''.<ref name=kelley-0706>{{Cite document|url=http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/research/theses/kelley07.pdf|title=Better Lucky Than Good: Operation Earnest Will as Gunboat Diplomacy|author=Stephen Andrew Kelley|date=June 2007|publisher=[[Naval Postgraduate School]]|accessdate=9 November 2007}}</ref> The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar and warning was given by the lookout only moments before the missiles struck.<ref name="DoD_report">[http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/reading_room/65rev.pdf Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Attack of the USS Stark in 1987]{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref> The missiles hit the ship and one exploded in crew quarters, killing 37 sailors and wounding 21.<ref name="DoD_report"/>

====Attacks on shipping====
[[Lloyd's of London]], a British insurance market, estimated that the Tanker War damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian sailors. The largest portion of the attacks were directed by Iran against Kuwaiti vessels, and on 1 November 1986, Kuwait formally petitioned foreign powers to protect its shipping. The [[Soviet Union]] agreed to charter tankers starting in 1987, and the United States offered to provide protection for tankers [[flag of convenience|flying the U.S. flag]] on 7 March 1987 ([[Operation Earnest Will]] and [[Operation Prime Chance]]).<ref name="Kelley2007" />
During the course of the war Iran attacked two Soviet Navy ships which were protecting Kuwaiti tankers.<ref>{{cite web|author=Iran |url=http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/iran/iran172.html |title=AllRefer.com - Iran - Gradual Superpower Involvement &#124; Iranian Information Resource |publisher=Reference.allrefer.com |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> One of the ships which was damaged as a result of an attack during the war was the [[Seawise Giant]] carrying Iranian crude which was struck by Iraqi [[Exocet]] missiles, resulting in the damage of the largest ship ever built in history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.relevantsearchscotland.co.uk/ships/jahre.html |title=Seawise Giant (Happy Giant) (Jahre Viking) (Knock Nevis) (Mont) |publisher=Relevantsearchscotland.co.uk |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref>

===1985 – 86: Offensives and retreats===
With his armed forces now benefiting from financial support from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Persian Gulf states, and substantial arms purchases from the [[Soviet Union]], China and France (among others), [[Saddam]] went on the offensive on 28 January 1985, for the first time since early 1980. This offensive, however, did not produce any significant gains, and the Iranians responded in kind with their own offensive directed against Basra, codenamed [[Operation Badr (1985)|Operation Badr]], on 11 March 1985.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 47">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 47</ref> The Imam Khomeini urged Iranians on saying, "It is our belief that Saddam wishes to return Islam to blasphemy and polytheism. ... if America becomes victorious ... and grants victory to Saddam, Islam will receive such a blow that it will not be able to raise its head for a long time ... The issue is one of Islam versus blasphemy, and not of Iran versus Iraq."<ref>`Further on Khomenyni 4 April Speech on War,` broadcast 4 April 1985, quoted in ''Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran'' by Daniel Brumberg
University of Chicago Press, 2001, pages 132–34</ref>

By this time, the failure of the unsupported human wave attacks during 1984 meant that Iran was trying to develop a better working relationship between the army and the Pasdaran.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 47"/> The Iranian government also worked on molding the Revolutionary Guard units into a much more conventional fighting force. The attack did succeed in capturing a part of the Baghdad-Basra highway that had proven elusive during [[Operation Dawn 5]] and [[Operation Dawn 6]]. Reflecting the improved Iranian tactics, Iraq suffered 10, 000–12, 000 casualties in Badr while the Iranians took 15, 000 casualites.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 47"/> Saddam responded to this strategic emergency by launching chemical attacks against the Iranian positions along the highway and by initiating the second 'war of the cities' with a massive air and missile campaign against twenty Iranian towns, including [[Tehran]].<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 47"/>

On 9 February 1986, the Iranians lauched [[Operation Dawn 8]], which saw 100, 000 troops comprising 5 Army divisions and 50, 000 men from the Pasdaran and the Basji advance in a two-pronged offensive in southern Iraq.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 48</ref> Unlike the earlier offensives, Dawn 8 was planned entirely by professional Army officers, all of whom had began their careers under the Shah.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> The Iranians launched a feint attack against Basra, which was stopped by the Iraqis.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> At the same time with the Iraqis distracted by the offensive against Basra, the main Iranian blow fell on the strategically important [[Al-Faw Peninsula|Fao peninsula]], which fell after only 24 hours of fighting.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> The Iranians launched their assault on the Fao at night with their men arriving via rubber boats.<ref name="Bulloch, John page 240">Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 240.</ref> After taking the Fao, the Iranians built a pontoon bridge and began to dig in.<ref name="Bulloch, John page 240"/> On 12 February 1986 the Iraqis began a counter-offensive to re-take the Fao, which failed after a week of intense fighting.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> Saddam sent one of his best commanders, General Maher Abd-Rashid and the [[Republican Guard (Iraq)|Republican Guard]] to begin an new offensive to re-capture the Fao on 24 February 1986.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> A new round of intensive fighting took place with the Iraqis losing 10, 000 men and the Iranians 30, 000 over the next four days.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> The Iraqi offensives were supported by heliopter gunships, hundreds of tanks and a huge bombing offensive by the Iraqi Air Force.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 242.</ref> Despite having an advantage in firepower and the extensive use of chemical warfare, the Iraqi attempt to re-take the Fao again ended in failure.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> The fall of the Fao and the failure of the Iraqi counter-offensives were huge blows to the prestige of the Baath regime, and led to fears all over the Gulf that Iran might win the war.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> In particular, Kuwait felt menaced with Iranian troops only ten miles away, and increased its support of Iraq accordingly.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 241.</ref> In March 1986, the Iranians tried to follow up their success by attempting to take [[Umm Qasr]], which would had the effect of severing Iraq from the Gulf and placing Iranian troops on the border with Kuwait.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> The Iranian offensive failed.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 48"/> In May 1986, the Iraqis took the Iranian border town of Mehran, and made a proposal for swapping Mehran for Fao.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 49">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 49</ref> The Iraqi offer was rejected and in July 1986 the Iranians re-took Mehran.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 49"/>

===1987 – 88: Towards a ceasefire===
[[File:Mersad.jpg|thumb|250px|Burned-out vehicles shown in the aftermath of Operation Mersad{{citation needed}}]] 
1987 saw a renewed wave of Iranian offensives against targets in both the north and south of Iraq. Iranian forces launched [[Operation Karbala-5]] in an attempt to capture Basra, but repulsed after more than two months of fighting which saw 20,000 Iraqi and 65,000 Iranian casualties. Among those killed was Iranian commander [[Hossein Kharrazi]]. The Iranians close to breaking through the Iraqi lines and taking Basra, but in the end, the strength of the Iraqi lines halted the Iranian offensive.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 263"/> However, the Iranians came close enough to Basra to bring up their artillery, and in the ensuring bombardments, Basra was largely destroyed.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 263"/> The Iranians were met with more success later in the year in the north as Operations [[Operation Nasr 4|Nasr 4]] and [[Operation Karbala-10|Karbala-10]], threatening to capture the oil-rich Iraqi city of [[Kirkuk]] and other northern oilfields. However, the Iranian forces were unable to consolidate their gains and continue their advance, and so 1987 saw little land change hands. On 20 July, the Security Council of the United Nations passed the US-sponsored Resolution 598, which called for an end to fighting and a return to pre-war boundaries.<ref name="globalsecurity.org">{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm |title=Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> Resolution 598 was drafted by the United States and was passed with votes from Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France and China offered up a 8-point plan for ending the war and announced that whatever state rejected it would be the subject of sanctions.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 380.</ref> Iraq promptly accepted Resolution 598 while Iran rejected it under the grounds that that the destruction of the Baath regime would satisfy the Islamic republic, a decision on the part of Khomeini that left Iran even more internationally isolated than before.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 380.</ref>   

At this time, Iran began to attack Kuwaiti shipping as a way of crippling the Kuwaiti economy, and hence the Iraqi economy as Kuwait was one of Iraq's main economic supporters.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 pages 378-379.</ref> The militarily weak Kuwait appealed to the United States for help, and after the Americans initially declined the offer, Kuwait appealed to the Soviet Union for help.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 378.</ref> Rather than see the Soviet Navy escort Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Persian Gulf, the United States Navy stepped in to escort Kuwaiti tankers as President Reagan stated in a TV address to the American nation: "We don't do the job, the Soviets will. And that will jeopardize our national security as well of our allies".<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 379.</ref> Staring in the summer of 1987, there were several air and naval clashes between Iranian forces and the U.S. Navy as the Americans find themselves defending Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian attacks.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 379.</ref>

In February 1988, Saddam began the fifth and most deadly of the "war of the cities".<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 57">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 57</ref> Over the next two months, Iraq was to fire over 200 missiles at Iranian cities.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 57"/> The fifth "war of the cities" killed about 2, 000 Iranian civilians and led to a mass flight from Iran's cities as hundreds of thousands of ordinary Iranians fled to the safety of the countryside.<ref> Takeyh, Ray "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment" pages 365-383 from Middle East Journal, Volume 64, Issue # 3, Summer 2010 page 380.</ref>  In March 1988, the Iranians began an offensive in Iraqi Kurdistan with the aim of capturing the Darbandi Khan reservoir and the power plant at Dukan, which supplied Iraq with much of its electricity.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 264">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 264.</ref> Through the Iranians advanced to within sight of Dukan, and captured {{convert|400|sqmi|km2}} and 4, 000 Iraqi troops, the offensive failed to the Iraqi use of chemical warfare.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 264"/> On 17 April 1988, an Iraqi offensive was started which saw the Fao peninsula recaptured after three days of fighting.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 57"/> After retaking the Fao, the Iraqis began a sustained drive to clear the Iranians out of all of southern Iraq.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 264"/> In May 1988, the Iraqis expelled the Iranians from Salamchech and took [[Majnun Island]].<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 57"/> During the fighting in the spring of 1988, the Iranians showed all the signs of collapsing morale.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 265"/> The British journalist Patrick Brogan reported: <blockquote>"Reports from the front, both at Faw [Fao] and outside Basra, indicated that the Iranian resistance was surprisingly weak. The army that had shown such courage and ''élan'' early in the war now broke in a rout, and fled before the Arabs."<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 265"/></blockquote> During the 1988 battles, the Iranians seemed tired and worn out by the nearly eight years of the war, and "put up very little resistance" to the Iraqi offensives.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 253">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 253.</ref> At the same time that Iraq was in the process of expelling the Iranians from its territory, a series of American-Iranian naval clashes in the Gulf led Iran to fear American intervention.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 57–59</ref> At this point, led by [[Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]], elements of the Iranian leadership had decided to sue for peace.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 59–61</ref> On 20 July 1988, Iran announced its willingess to accept a ceasefire by accepting Resolution 598.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 79</ref> In a radio address, an announcer read out a statement by Khomeini, in which he expressed his deep displeasure and reluctance about accepting the ceasefire by saying: <blockquote>"Happy are those who have departed through martyrdom. Happy are those who have lost their lives in this convoy of light. Unhappy am I that I still survive and have drunk the poisoned chalice...".<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 1.</ref></blockquote> Iraq for its turn announced it was not willing to accept Resolution 598 until Khomeini explicitly disallowed his call for the overthrow of Saddam .<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 79–80</ref> Over the next few weeks, Iraq launched several limited offensives into Iran to seize border territory as a way of pressuring Khomeini to disallow his calls for regime change in Iraq.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 80–81</ref> At the same time, Saddam came under heavy pressure from the Gulf states, who were his largest creditors to accept the Iranian offer and finally end the war.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 81</ref>

Following these major setbacks, Iran accepted the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 598 and on 20 August 1988 peace was restored.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 81–82</ref> The news of the end of the war was greeted with scenes of wild celebration in Baghdad with people dancing in the streets while in Tehran, the end of the war was greeted with a glum, sad silence as Iran settled for the same terms it had rejected in 1982, thus meaning that the last six years of the war had been in vain<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey The Gulf War, Methuen: London, 1989 page 1.</ref>

==Home front==
===Iraq===
At first, Saddam followed a policy of attempting to ensure that Iraqi population suffered from the war as a little as possible.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 67">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 67</ref> There was little rationing, and civilian projects began before the war continued.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 67"/> At the same time, the already extensive personality cult around Saddam reached new heights of adulation while the regime tightened its control over the military.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 67–68</ref> After the Iranian victories of the spring of 1982 and the Syrian closure of Iraq's main pipeline, Saddam did a volte-face on his policy towards the home front.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim pages 68-69">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 68–69</ref> A policy of austerity and [[total war]] was introduced with the entire population being mobilized for the war effort.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim pages 68-69"/> All Iraqis were ordered to donate blood, mass demonstrations of loyalty towards Saddam become more common, and some 100,000 Iraqi civilians were ordered to sever the reeds in the southern marshes.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim pages 68-69"/> To secure the loyalty of the Shiites, Saddam began a policy of allowing more Shiites into the [[Ba'ath Party]] and the government, and started efforts to improve Shiite living standards, which tended to be much lower than those of the Iraqi Arab Sunnis.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 70">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 70</ref> As part of the effort to ensure Iraqi Shia support for the war, Saddam had the Iraqi state pay for the costs of restoring the tomb of the [[Ali|Imam Ali]] with white marble being imported from Italy.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 70"/> Despite the costs of the war, the Iraqi regime made generous contributions to Shia ''waqf'' (religious endowments) as part of the price of buying Iraqi Shia support.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 75-76</ref> The importance of winning Shia support could see that the expansion of welfare services in Shia areas went on at a time when the Iraqi regime was pursuing a policy of rigid austerity in all other fields other than the military.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 76</ref> Khomeini's behavior during his time in exile in [[Najaf]] in the 1960s-1970s where he often quarrelled with the leaders of the Iraqi ''[[ulema]]'' helped to explain why many of the Iraqi Shia ''ulema'' supported the Iraqi regime against him in the 1980s.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 77-78</ref> On the whole, Iraqi Shiites supported their country's war effort against Iran.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 75-77</ref> The British journalist Patrick Brogan reported: <blockquote>"Even the Shiites of Iraq preferred the vicious tyranny of Saddam Hussein, Sunni though he was, to the Ayatollah's Shiite paradise: Hussein was an Arab, Khomeini a Persian , and 13 centuries of hostility are not to be dispersed by a Friday sermon".<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 253"/></blockquote> During the first years of the war in the early 1980s, the Iraqi government tried to accommodate the Kurds in order to focus on the war against Iran. In 1983, the [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan]] agreed to cooperate with Baghdad, but the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq|Kurdish Democratic Party]] remained opposed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22079.pdf |title=CRS Report for Congress: The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq(Page 2) |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> In 1983, Saddam signed an autonomy agreement with [[Jalal Talabani]] of the [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan|PUK]], through subsequently Saddam reneged on his promise of Kurdish autonomy.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71"/> By 1985, the PUK and KDP had joined forces, and Iraqi Kurdistan become the scene of widespread guerrilla warfare right up to the end of the war in 1988.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71"/>

As a counterpart to the new policy of the "carrot", there was a policy of the "stick". A campaign of terror was begun in the summer of 1982 with more than 300 Iraqi Army officers being shot for their failures on the battlefield.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 70"/> In 1983, a major crackdown was launched on the leadership of the Shiite community with 90 members of the al-Hakim family (an influential family of Shia clerics whose leading members were the émigrés [[Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim]] and [[Abdul Aziz al-Hakim]]) being arrested and six being hanged.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 70"/> Even more extensive was the crackdown on the Kurds that saw 8,000 members of the Barzani clan, whose leader [[Massoud Barzani]] was also the leader of the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]] summarily executed.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71"/> From 1983 onwards, a campaign of increasingly brutal repression was started against the Iraqi Kurds that the Israeli historian [[Efraim Karsh]] wrote "assumed genocidal proportions" by 1988.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71"/> The [[Al-Anfal Campaign]] was intended to "pacify" Iraqi Kurdistan permanently.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71"/>

===Iran===
The outbreak of the war was seen by the Iranian government as a heaven-sent chance to strengthen its position and consolidate the Islamic revolution.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 71"/> The war was presented to the Iranian people as a glorious ''[[jihad]]'' and a test of Iranian national character.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 72</ref> Right from the beginning, the Iranian regime followed a policy of total war, and attempted to mobilize the entire nation for the struggle.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 72–73</ref> The war furthered the decline of the Iranian economy that began with the Islamic revolution in 1978–79.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 pages 74–75</ref> Between 1979 and 1981, foreign exchange reserves fell from $14.6&nbsp;billion US to $1&nbsp;billion.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 74">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 74</ref> As a result of the war, living standards dropped quite dramatically in Iran in the 1980s.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 74"/> The British journalists John Bulloch and Harvey Morris described 1980s Iran as “...a dour and joyless place” ruled by a harsh regime that “...seemed to have nothing to offer, but endless war”.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 239.</ref> As part of the total war effort, the regime established a group known as the Reconstruction Campaign, who enjoyed exemption from conscription and sent into the countryside to work on the farms and replace the men serving at the front.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 75</ref> Iranian workers had a day's pay deducted from their pay cheques every month to help finance the war, and mass campaigns were launched to encourage the public to donate food, money and blood for the soldiers.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 74"/> To help pay for the war, the Iranian government banned the import of all non-essential items, and started a major effort to rebuild the damaged oil plants.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75"/> Iranian oil technicians, "masters of invention and innovation", did much to keep their nation's oil industry going in the face of much difficulty, and thus ensured that Iran could pay for the war.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75"/>

In 1981, a condition of near-civil war took place on the streets of Iranian cities as the left-wing ''[[Mujaheddin e-Khalq]]'' (MEK) attempted to seize power.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 73">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 73</ref> In June 1981, street battles between the MEK and the Revolutionary Guard raged for several days with hundreds killed on both sides.<ref>Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 250.</ref> The MEK started an assassination campaign that killed hundreds of regime officials by the fall of 1981.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 251">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 251.</ref> On June 28, 1981 the MEK assassinated secretary-general of the Islamic Republican Party, [[Mohammad Beheshti]] and August 30, killed the President, [[Mohammad-Ali Rajai]].<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 251"/> In September 1981, street battles again raged between the MEK and the Revolutionary Guard.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 251"/> Thousands of left-wing Iranians (many of whom were not associated with the MEK) were shot and hanged by the government in the aftermath.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 251"/> Even after their defeat, the MEK waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations which was met with a policy of mass executions of suspected MEK members that lasted until 1985.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 73"/> Other than the MEK, the Iranian government was faced with a rebellion in Iranian Kurdistan supported by Iraq, which was gradually put down through a campaign of systematic repression.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75"/> Besides for the MEK and the Kurds, anti-war student demonstrations took place in 1985, which were crushed by government activists.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 74"/>

One of the few exceptions to the repressive policies of the government was the tolerance shown to the anti-war Islamic Liberation Movement led by a former prime minister [[Mehdi Bazargan]].<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75"/> In January 1985, Bazargan criticized the war after 1982 in a telegram to the United Nations as un-Islamic and illegitimate, arguing that Khomeini should have accepted Saddam's truce offer of 1982 instead of attempting to overthrow the Baath.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75"/> Khomeini was annoyed by Bazargan's telegram, and issued a lengthy public rebuttal in which he defended the war as both Islamic and just.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 75"/> By 1987, there were increasing signs that Iranian morale was breaking as reflected in the failure of several government campaigns to recruit "martyrs" for the front.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 74"/> The Israeli historian [[Efraim Karsh]] wrote that it was signs of declining morale in 1987–88 that played a major role in Iran's decision to accept the ceasefire of 1988.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 74"/> The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that by 1988: <blockquote>"The economy was collapsing. War and revolution had taken their toll. Only war industries survived, and the standard of living was dropping precipitously. There were no longer enough recruits for the Revolutionary Guards; the Iranian war machine was no longer capable of supplying the huge armies that had marched singing to war in the early days...The country was sliding steadily into bankruptcy. Strict Islamic law forbids usury, and Khomeini interpreted that to mean Iran could not borrow against future oil revenues to meet the expenses of war. Iran paid cash, and when the reserves were exhausted, Iran had to rely on income from its oil exports. Oil revenue dropped from $20 billion in 1982 to $5 billion in 1988. At an OPEC meeting in June 1988, Saudi Arabia, who had broken diplomatic relations with Iran two months earlier, vetoed a last, desperate Iranian initiative to cut production and thus raise prices again"<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 252">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989 page 252.</ref> </blockquote> In a public letter to Khomeini sent in May 1988, Bazargan wrote:<blockquote>"Since 1986, you have not stopped proclaiming victory, and now you are calling upon population to resist until victory. Is that not an admission of failure on your part?"<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 252"/></blockquote> Bazargan went to criticize Khomeini for the war, which Bazargan stated was bankrupting Iran, and slaughtering its youth for no good purpose.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 252"/>

==Comparison of Iraqi and Iranian military strength==
{{Main|Order of battle during the Iran–Iraq War}}

At the commencement of hostilities, Iraq held a clear advantage in armour, while both nations were roughly at parity with artillery. The gap only widened as the war went on. Iran started with a stronger air force, but over time, the balance of power flipped towards favoring Iraq. The United States and the United Kingdom sold arms and weaponry to Iraq throughout the eight year war <ref>{{cite web|author=Julian Borger in Washington |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/dec/31/iraq.politics |title=Rumsfeld 'offered help to Saddam'|work=The Guardian |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://openveinsblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/the-great-british-arms-industry/ |title=The Great British Arms Industry &#124; Open Veins |publisher=Openveinsblog.wordpress.com |date=2010-11-15 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> estimates for 1980 and 1987 were:<ref>"The Arming, and Disarming, of Iran's Revolution," ''[[The Economist]]'', International Edition, 19 September 1987, 56–57.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto; text-align: center;" peaches:)
|-
! Imbalance of Power (1980–1987) !! Iraq !! Iran
|- style="text-align:center;"
||[[Tanks]] in 1980
||2700
||1740
|- style="text-align:center;"
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|Tanks in 1987
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|4500+
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|1000
|- style="text-align:center;"
||[[Fighter Aircraft]] in 1980
||332
||445
|- style="text-align:center;"
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|Fighter Aircraft in 1987
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|500+
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|65 (serviceable)
|- style="text-align:center;"
||[[Helicopters]] in 1980
||40
||500
|- style="text-align:center;"
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|Helicopters in 1987
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|150
|  style="border-bottom:2px solid black;"|60
|- style="text-align:center;"
||[[Artillery]] in 1980
||1000
||1000+
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Artillery in 1987
||4000+
||1000+
|}

==Foreign support to Iraq and Iran==
{{Main|International aid to combatants in the Iran–Iraq War}}
[[File:Shakinghands high.OGG|thumb|thumbtime=05|[[Donald Rumsfeld]] as US special envoy to the Middle East, meets Saddam in December 1983 ([[:File:Shakinghands high.OGG|video]]). Rumsfeld would later become [[United States Secretary of Defense|US Defense Secretary]] during the [[2003 Iraq War]] which saw Saddam ousted from power, and ultimately [[Execution of Saddam |executed]].]]
During the war, Iraq was regarded by the West (specifically the United States) and Soviet Union as a counterbalance to [[Iranian Revolution|post-revolutionary]] Iran.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 119.</ref> The Soviet Union, which was Iraq's main arms supplier for the entire duration of the war did not wish for the end of its alliance with Iraq, and was alarmed at Saddam's threats if the Kremlin did not provide him with the weapons he wanted, then Iraq would find new arms suppliers in the West and in China.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 119 & 198-199.</ref> The British journalists John Bulloch and Harvey Morris wrote: <blockquote>"Throughout the war the Soviet Union remained Iraq's main supplier, as it had always been-the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed by Moscow and Baghdad in 1972 was a formalisation of the special relationship between the two countries which had existed from the time of the overthrow of the monarchy, and survived the rift between the Ba'ath and the Communist Party of Iraq, with all the bloodshed that entailed".<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 185.</ref></blockquote> In addition, the Soviet Union hoped to use the prospect of reducing arms supplies to Iraq as leverage for forming a Soviet-Iranian alliance.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 197.</ref> The basis of American policy was described by Bulloch and Morris as follows: <blockquote>"Part of the US dilemma in the Gulf was that the United States was committed to the territorial integrity of a state, Iran, whose rulers were implacably hostile to it. Washington wished to protect other states in the region from Iranian expansionism as well as protecting Iran from that of the Soviet Union, so that coupled with a natural and publicly supported wish to do down the Khomeini regime was a more pragmatic need to see the survival of a stable, independent and anti-communist Iran. The central importance of Iran in America's geopolitical strategy, until the advent of the Gorbachev era forced a reappraisal, was outlined by Henry Kissingner in 1982:<br><br>"The focus of Iranian pressure at this moment is Iraq. There are few governments in the world less deserving of our support and less capable of using it. Had Iraq won the war, the fear in the Gulf and the threat to our interest would be scarcely less than it is today. Still, given the importance of the balance of power in the area, it is in our interests to promote a ceasefire in that conflict; through not a cost that will preclude an eventual rapprochement with Iran either if a more moderate regime replaces Khomenini's or if the present rulers wake up to gepolitical reality that the historic threat to Iran's independence has always come from the country with which it shares a border of {{convert|1500|mi|km}}: the Soviet Union. A raprochement with Iran, of course, must await at a minimum Iran's abandonment of hegemonic aspirations in the Gulf".<br><br>Iran, in other words, should be befriended if possible, but must above, be contained."<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey The Gulf War, Methuen: London, 1989 pages 142-143.</ref></blockquote> The support of Iraq took the form of technological aid, [[intelligence]], the sale of dual-use and military equipment and satellite intelligence to Iraq. While there was direct combat between Iran and the United States, it is not universally agreed that the fighting between the U.S. and Iran was specifically to benefit Iraq, or for separate, although occurring at the same time, issues between the U.S. and Iran. American ambiguity towards which side to support was summed up by [[Henry Kissinger]] when the American statesman remarked that "it's a pity they [Iran and Iraq] both can't lose."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6662950/Like-the-Iran-Iraq-war.html |title=Like the Iran-Iraq war. &#124; Goliath Business News |publisher=Goliath.ecnext.com |date=30 April 2007 |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref> Richard Murphy, the Assistant Secretary of State testified to Congress in 1984 that the Reagan administration believed that a victory for either Iran or Iraq was "neither militarily feasible nor strategically desirable".<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 page 178.</ref> [[France]], which from the 1970s onwards had been one of Iraq's closest allies was a major supplier of military hardware to Iraq.<ref name="autogenerated184">Bulloch, John and Morris, Harvey, ''The Gulf War'', Methuen: London, 1989 pages 184-185</ref> The French sold weapons equal to the sum of $5 billion US, which comprised well over a quarter of Iraq's total armory.<ref name="autogenerated184"/> [[China]], which had no direct stake in the victory of either side, and whose interests in the war were entirely commercial freely sold arms to both sides.<ref>Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey The Gulf War, Methuen: London, 1989 pages 185, 187, 188 & 192-193.</ref>

More than 30 countries provided support to Iraq, Iran, or both. Iraq, in particular, had a complex clandestine procurement network to obtain munitions and critical materials, which, in some transactions, involved 10–12 countries. Also, a number of Arab mercenaries and volunteers from Egypt<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BABAZqVgfq0C&pg=PA17 |title=perspectives on the Iran-Iraq war |isbn=9780813014760 |accessdate=2011-08-02|last1=Rajaee |first1=Farhang |year=1997 }}</ref> and Jordan (called the Yarmouk Brigade<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jh3Q5F7BaB8C&pg=PA368 |title=An encyclopedic dictionary of conflict and conflict resolution, 1945-1996 |first=John E.|last= Jessup|date=1998-08-30 |isbn=9780313281129 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref>) participated in the war alongside Iraqis.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Foreign policy
! Support to Iraq
! Support to Iran
|-
| All countries
| [[International aid to combatants in the Iran–Iraq War]]
|
|
|-
| {{Flagu|United States}}
|
| [[United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
| [[United States support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|-
| {{Flagu|United Kingdom}}
|
| [[British support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Saudi Arabia}}
|
| [[Saudi support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Soviet Union}}
| [[The Soviet Union and the Iran–Iraq War]]
| [[Soviet support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
| [[Soviet support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|-
| {{Flagu|People's Republic of China}}
|
| [[Chinese support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War]]
| [[Chinese support for Iran during the Iran-Iraq War]]
|-
| {{Flagu|France}}
|
| [[French support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Kuwait}}
|
| [[Kuwait support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Israel}}
|
|
| [[Israeli support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|-
| {{Flagu|Italy}}
|
| [[Italian support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|West Germany}}
|
| [[West German support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Egypt}}
|
| [[Egyptian support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Jordan}}
|
| [[Jordanian support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Singapore}}
|
| [[Singapore support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|North Korea}}
|
|
| [[North Korean support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|
|-
| {{Flagu|Yugoslavia}}
|
| [[Yugoslav support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war]]
| [[Yugoslav support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war]]
|}

===Iraqi attack on U.S. warship===
{{Main|USS Stark Incident}}
[[File:USS Stark.jpg|thumb|right|''Stark'' listing following two hits by Exocet missiles]]
On 17 May 1987, an Iraqi [[Mirage F1]] attack aircraft launched two [[Exocet]] missiles at the [[USS Stark (FFG-31)|USS ''Stark'']], a [[Oliver Hazard Perry class|''Perry'' class]] [[frigate]]. The first struck the port side of the ship and failed to explode, though it left burning propellant in its wake; the second struck moments later in approximately the same place and penetrated through to crew quarters, where it exploded. The detonation killed 37 crewmembers and left 21 injured. The question of whether or not Iraqi leadership authorized the attack is still unanswered. Initial claims by the Iraqi government (that ''Stark'' was inside the Iran–Iraq War zone) were shown to be false, so the motives and orders of the pilot remain unanswered. Though American officials claimed he had been executed, an ex-Iraqi Air Force commander since stated that the pilot who attacked ''Stark'' was not punished, and was still alive at the time.<ref>Fisk. ''The Great War for Civilisation'', p. 221.</ref> The attack remains the only successful anti-ship missile strike on an American warship.<ref name="ROE">{{Cite journal
| journal=Military Law Review
| volume =  143
| date = Winter 1994
| title = Rules of Engagement for Land Forces: A Matter of Training, Not Lawyering
| first = Mark S. | last = Martins
| pages = 43–46
| url = http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Military_Law_Review/pdf-files/27687D~1.pdf
}}</ref><ref name="NoHigher61">{{Cite book
| title = No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf
| pages = 61–63
| first = Bradley | last = Peniston
| publisher=Naval Institute Press
| isbn = 1591146615.
| url = http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/pic-stark.shtml
| location= Persian Gulf
| year = 2006
}}</ref>

===U.S. military actions toward Iran===
However, U.S. attention was focused on isolating Iran as well as maintaining [[freedom of navigation]], criticizing Iran's mining of international waters, and sponsored [[Wikisource:United Nations Security Council Resolution 598|UN Security Council Resolution 598]], which passed unanimously on 20 July, under which it skirmished with Iranian forces during [[Operation Earnest Will]]. During the [[Operation Nimble Archer]] in October 1987, the U.S. attacked Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack on the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tanker [[MV Sea Isle City|''Sea Isle City'']].<ref name="Kelley2007">{{Cite document
| title = Better Lucky than Good: Operation Earnest Will as Gunboat Diplomacy
| first = Stephen Andrew | last = Kelley
| date = June 2007
| volume = Master's Thesis
| publisher=U.S. Naval Postgraduate School
}}</ref>

On 14 April 1988, the frigate [[USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)|USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'']] was badly damaged by an Iranian mine, wounding 10 sailors. U.S. forces responded with [[Operation Praying Mantis]] on 18 April, the [[United States Navy]]'s largest engagement of surface warships since [[World War II]]. Two Iranian oil platforms, two Iranian ships and six Iranian gunboats were destroyed. An American helicopter also crashed.<ref name="Kelley2007" /> (see also [[Oil Platforms (Iran v. United States)]])

===U.S. shoots down civilian airliner===
{{Main|Iran Air Flight 655}}
[[File:USS Vincennes launching SM-2MR in 1987.jpg|thumb|right|A missile departs the forward launcher of ''Vincennes'' during a 1987 exercise. This ship later accidentally shot down civilian airliner [[Iran Air 655]].]]

In the course of these escorts by the U.S. Navy, the cruiser [[USS Vincennes (CG-49)|USS ''Vincennes'']] shot down [[Iran Air Flight 655]] with the loss of all 290 passengers and crew on 3 July 1988. The [[Federal Government of the United States|American government]] claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an Iranian [[F-14 Tomcat]], and that the Vincennes was operating in international waters at the time and feared that it was under attack, which later appeared to be untrue.<ref name="ROE" /><ref>See Fisk. ''The Great War for Civilisation'', pp. 260–273.</ref> The Iranians, however, maintain that the ''Vincennes'' was in fact in Iranian territorial waters, and that the Iranian passenger jet was turning away and increasing altitude after take-off. U.S. Admiral [[William J. Crowe]] also admitted on ''[[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]]'' that the ''Vincennes'' was inside Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles. At the time, the captain of the ''Vincennes'' claimed that the Iranian plane did not identify itself and sent no response to warning signals from the ''Vincennes''. 

According to an investigation conducted by ABC News' ''Nightline'', decoys were set during the war by the U.S. Navy inside the [[Persian Gulf]] to lure out the Iranian gunboats and destroy them, and at the time USS ''Vincennes'' shot down the Iranian airliner, it was performing such an operation.

In 1996 the U.S. expressed regret only for the loss of innocent life, and did not make a specific apology to the Iranian government.<ref name="ROE" /><ref name="AggrPolitics">{{cite book
| title = The Iran–Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression
| first = Farhang |last=Rajaee
| publisher=University Press of Florida}}</ref>

The shooting down of a civilian Iranian passenger plane ''Iran Air Flight 655'' by the American cruiser USS ''Vincennes'', was cited by an Iranian scholar {{Who|date=April 2008}} as apparently giving [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] reason to withdraw from the conflict:<ref>[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.item&news_id=90411. "The 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War: A CWIHP Critical Oral History Conference"], [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]], 11 August 2004</ref>
{{quote|An Iranian scholar present at the conference said a turning point in Iran's thinking came with the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in July 1988 by the American cruiser USS Vincennes. That incident apparently led Ayatollah Khomeini to conclude that Iran could not risk the possibility of U.S. open combat operations against Iran and he decided it was time to end the conflict.}}

===Both countries===
Besides the US and the Soviet Union, [[Yugoslavia]] also sold weapons to both countries for the entire duration of the conflict. Likewise, Portugal helped both countries: it was not unusual seeing Iranian and Iraqi flagged ships moored side-by-side at the [[port of Sines]]. {{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

From 1980 to 1987 Spain sold €458&nbsp;million in weapons to Iran and €172&nbsp;million in weapons to Iraq. Spain sold to Iraq 4x4 vehicles, [[BO-105]] Helicopters, explosives and ammunition. A research party discovered that an unexploded chemical Iraqi warhead in Iran was manufactured in Spain.<ref>[[El Mundo (Spain)]] book. ''El Camino de la Libertad. La democracia año a año. 1986'' {{ISBN|978-84-92540-09-9}}. Page 27-32.</ref>

Although neither side did acquire any weapons from Turkey, both sides enjoyed Turkish civilian help during conflict. Having managed
to remain neutral and refused to support trade embargo imposed by US, [[Ankara]] turned out to be the one upon whom both warring sides developed high degree of economic dependancy, since Turkey was one of their few outlets to the west and source of local goods. Turkey's export jumped from $220&nbsp;million in 1981 to $2&nbsp;billion in 1985, making up 25% of Turkey's overall exports. Additionally, Turkish construction projects in [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] totaled $2.5&nbsp;billion between 1974 and 1990. These benefits helped Turkey to offset the ongoing Turkish economic crisis, though they decreased with the end of the war and vanished with the [[Invasion of Kuwait|Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq]] and [[Iraq sanctions|Turkish response]] to it.<ref>[[Graham Fuller|Fuller, Graham E.]] 2008 "''The new Turkish Republic, Turkey as a pivotal state in the Muslim world''"  {{ISBN|978-1-60127-019-1}} Page 40,98</ref>

==Financial support==
Iraq's main financial backers were the oil-rich [[Persian Gulf]] states, most notably Saudi Arabia ($30.9&nbsp;billion), Kuwait ($8.2&nbsp;billion) and the United Arab Emirates ($8&nbsp;billion).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2004/isg-final-report/ch2_anxd_img06.jpg |title=Iraq debt: non-Paris Club creditors |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref>

The [[Iraqgate]] scandal revealed that an [[Atlanta]] branch of Italy's largest bank, [[Banca Nazionale del Lavoro]], relying partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funneled $5&nbsp;billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. In August 1989, when [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents finally raided the Atlanta branch of BNL, the branch manager, Christopher Drogoul, was charged with making unauthorized, clandestine, and illegal loans to Iraq – some of which, according to his indictment, were used to purchase arms and weapons technology.

The ''[[New York Times]]'', the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', and [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s [[Ted Koppel]], covered the Iraq-gate story, and the investigation by the U.S. Congress.<ref name="FAS">{{Cite document
| title = The Administration's Iraq Gate Scandal, by William Safire
| author=Lantos, Tom
| date = 19 May 1992
| publisher=Congressional Record
| url =  http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1992/h920519l.htm
}}</ref> This scandal is covered in Alan Friedman's book ''The Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.''{{Clarify|date=January 2008}}

Beginning in September 1989, the ''[[Financial Times]]'' laid out the first charges that BNL, relying heavily on U.S. government-guaranteed loans, was funding Iraqi chemical and nuclear weapons work. For the next two and a half years, the ''Financial Times'' provided the only continuous newspaper reportage (over 300 articles) on the subject. Among the companies shipping militarily useful technology to Iraq under the eye of the U.S. government, according to the ''Financial Times'', were [[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Tektronix]], and [[Arms-to-Iraq|Matrix Churchill]], through its [[Ohio]] branch.<!--dead link<ref>Report by [[Columbia Journalism Review]]: http://www.cjr.org/archives.asp?url=/93/2/iraqgate.asp</ref>--> {{Clarify|date=January 2008}}

In all, Iraq received $35&nbsp;billion in loans from the West and between $30 and $40&nbsp;billion from the Persian Gulf states during the 1980s.<ref name="ISGfunding">{{Cite book
| url = http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2004/isg-final-report/isg-final-report_vol1_rfp-anx-d.htm
| title = Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] on Iraq's WMD
| date = 30 September 2004
| volume = 1 of 3
| chapter = Annex D, Iraq Economic Data (1989–2003)
| publisher=[[GlobalSecurity.org]]
}}</ref>

==Use of chemical weapons by Iraq==
{{See also|Halabja poison gas attack}}
[[File:Chemical weapons Halabja Iraq March 1988.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Chemical weapons]], used by Iraq, killed and injured numerous Iranians and Kurds.]]

In a declassified report, the CIA estimated in 1991 that Iran had suffered more than 50,000 casualties from Iraq's use of several chemical weapons,<ref>Wright, Robin, ''Dreams and Shadows : the Future of the Middle East'', Penguin Press, 2008, p.438</ref> but today the actual number of victims is estimated to more than 100,000, since the long term effects still cause casualties to this day.<ref>History's Greatest War by Terry Bryant, 2007</ref><ref>The Iran-Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression by Farhang Rajaee, University Press of Florida</ref>

The official estimate does not include the civilian population contaminated in bordering towns or the children and relatives of veterans, many of whom have developed blood, lung and skin complications, according to the Organization for Veterans of Iran. According to a 2002 article in the ''[[Star-Ledger]]'':
<blockquote>
"Nerve gas killed about 20,000 Iranian soldiers immediately, according to official reports. Of the 90,000 survivors, some 5,000 seek medical treatment regularly and about 1,000 are still hospitalized with severe, chronic conditions."<ref>{{Cite journal
| url = http://www.nj.com/specialprojects/index.ssf?/specialprojects/mideaststories/me1209.html
| journal=New Jersey Star-Ledger
| title = In Iran, grim reminders of Saddam's arsenal
| date = 27 October 2002
| author=Fassihi, Farnaz
}}</ref>
</blockquote>
Iraq also used chemical weapons on Iranian civilians, killing many in villages and hospitals. Many civilians suffered severe burns and health problems, and still suffer from them.<ref name="r1">Center for Documents of The Imposed War, Tehran. (مرکز مطالعات و تحقیقات جنگ)</ref>

On 21 March 1986, the United Nations Security Council made a declaration stating that "members are profoundly concerned by the unanimous conclusion of the specialists that chemical weapons on many occasions have been used by Iraqi forces against Iranian troops and the members of the Council strongly condemn this continued use of chemical weapons in clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 which prohibits the use in war of chemical weapons."  The United States was the only member who voted against the issuance of this statement.<ref>[51] S/17911 and Add. 1, 21 March 1986. Note that this is a "decision" and not a resolution.</ref> A mission to the region in 1988 found evidence of the use of chemical weapons, and was condemned in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 612|Security Council Resolution 612]].

According to retired Colonel Walter Lang, senior defense intelligence officer for the United States [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] at the time, "the use of gas on the battlefield by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern" to Reagan and his aides, because they "were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose."  He claimed that the Defense Intelligence Agency "would have never accepted the use of chemical weapons against civilians, but the use against military objectives was seen as inevitable in the Iraqi struggle for survival",<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/world/officers-say-us-aided-iraq-in-war-despite-use-of-gas.html | work=The New York Times | first=Patrick E. | last=Tyler | title=OFFICERS SAY U.S. AIDED IRAQ IN WAR DESPITE USE OF GAS | date=18 August 2002}}</ref> The Reagan administration did not stop aiding Iraq after receiving reports of the use of poison gas on Kurdish civilians.<ref name="Galbraith">{{Cite journal
| first1 = Peter W. | last1 =Galbraith | first2 = Christopher Jr. | last2 = Van Hollen
| title = Chemical Weapons Use in Kurdistan: Iraq's Final Offensive
| series = staff
| volume = report to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
| date = 21 September 1988
| page = 30
}}</ref><ref name="NYT1988-09-15">{{Cite journal
| first = Robert | last = Pear
| title = U.S. Says It Monitored Iraqi Messages on Gas
| journal=The New York Times
| date = 15 September 1988
| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE6DC1E3BF936A2575AC0A96E948260
}}</ref> There is great resentment in Iran {{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} that the international community helped Iraq develop its chemical weapons arsenal and armed forces, and also that the world did nothing to punish Saddam's Ba'athist regime for its use of chemical weapons against Iran throughout the war – particularly since the US and other western powers soon felt obliged to oppose the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and eventually invade Iraq itself to remove Saddam.


The U.S. also accused Iran of using chemical weapons.<ref>Fisk. ''The Great War for Civilisation'', p. 214.</ref> These allegations however, have been disputed. [[Joost Hiltermann]], who was the principal researcher for [[Human Rights Watch]] between 1992–1994, conducted a two year study, including a field investigation in Iraq, capturing Iraqi government documents in the process. According to Hiltermann, the literature on the Iran–Iraq War reflects a number of allegations of chemical weapons use by Iran, but these are "marred by a lack of specificity as to time and place, and the failure to provide any sort of evidence".<ref name="Potter153">{{Cite book
| last1=  Potter | first1= Lawrence |last2= Sick | first = Gary
| title = Iran, Iraq, and the legacies of war
| year = 2004
| publisher=MacMillan
| isbn = 1-4039-6450-5
| page = 153
}}</ref>

[[Gary Sick]] and [[Lawrence Potter]] call the allegations against Iran "mere assertions" and state: "no persuasive evidence of the claim that Iran was the primary culprit [of using chemical weapons] was ever presented".<ref name="Potter156">{{Cite book
| last1=  Potter | first1= Lawrence |last2= Sick | first = Gary
| title = Iran, Iraq, and the legacies of war
| year = 2004
| publisher=MacMillan
| isbn = 1-4039-6450-5
| page = 156
}}</ref> Policy consultant and author [[Joseph Tragert]] also states: "Iran did not retaliate with chemical weapons, probably because it did not possess any at the time".<ref name="Tragert">{{cite book
| author=Tragert, Joseph
| title = Understanding Iran
| year =  2003
| isbn= 1-59257-141-7
| page = 190
| publisher=Alpha
| location = Indianapolis., Indiana
}}</ref>

At his trial in December 2006, Saddam said he would take responsibility "with honour" for any attacks on Iran using conventional or chemical weapons during the 1980–1988 war but he took issue with charges he ordered attacks on Iraqis.<ref>{{Cite journal
| url = http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20950607-1702,00.html
| title = Saddam admits Iran gas attacks
| journal=The Australian
| first = Ahmed | last = Rasheed
| date = 19 December 2006
}}</ref> A medical analysis of the effects of Iraqi [[mustard gas]] is described a U.S. military textbook, and contrasted with slightly different effects in the First World War.<ref name="MMCC07">{{Cite document
| title =  Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
| publisher=Office of The Surgeon General, Department of the Army, United States of America
|url =http://www.sc-ems.com/ems/NuclearBiologicalChemical/MedicalAspectsofNBC/chapters/chapter_7.htm
| contribution = Chapter 7: Vesicants
| first1 = Frederick R. | last1 = Sidell
| first2 = John S. | last2 = Urbanetti
| first3 = William J. | last3=Smith
| first4 = Charles G. | last4 = Hurst
}}</ref>

==Distinctions and Peculiarity==

Iran [[Iranian Air Force in Iran-Iraq war|attacked]] and partially damaged the [[Osirak]] [[nuclear reactor]] on 30 September 1980 with two [[F-4 Phantom II|F-4 Phantoms]], shortly after the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War. This was the first attack on a [[nuclear reactor]] and only the third on a nuclear facility in the history of the world. It was also the first instance of a [[Preemptive war|pre-emptive]] attack on a nuclear reactor to forestall the development of a [[nuclear weapon]], though it did not achieve its objective as France repaired the reactor after the Iranian attack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52412 |title=IRAN: Eyes on the Skies Over Bushehr Nuclear Reactor - IPS |publisher=Ipsnews.net |date=2010-08-06 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> It took a second pre-emptive strike by the [[Israeli Air Force]] to disable the reactor, in the process killing a French engineer and causing France to pull out of Osirak. The decommissioning of Osirak has been cited as causing a substantial delay to Iraqi acquisition of [[nuclear weapon]]s, which [[Saddam]] announced an intention to develop in response to the Iranian revolution.<ref name="autogenerated1995">{{cite web|url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/mcnair41/41irq.htm |title=McNair Paper 41, Radical Responses to Radical Regimes: Evaluating Preemptive Counter-Proliferation, May 1995 |publisher=Au.af.mil |date=1980-09-30 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref name="au.af.mil">{{cite web|url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/mcnair41/41not.htm#39 |title=McNair Paper 41, Radical Responses to Radical Regimes: Evaluating Preemptive Counter-Proliferation, May 1995 |publisher=Au.af.mil |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1995"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/facility/osiraq.htm |title=Osiraq - Iraq Special Weapons Facilities |publisher=Fas.org |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref name="google.com">http://google.com/search?q=cache:ZlBdwCEy9yAJ:www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/Osirak.pdf+osirak+repair+after+iranian+attack&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a</ref><ref name="google.com"/><ref>[http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache%3AOYG-qrRsMxkJ%3Abelfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu%2Ffiles%2Fis3104_pp007-033_raas_long.pdf+osirak+iran&hl=en&gl=ca]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://airtoair.blogfa.com/post-18.aspx |title=پايگاه هشتم شكاري |publisher=Airtoair.blogfa.com |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref>

The Iran–Iraq War was also the first and only conflict in the history of warfare in which both forces used [[Ballistic Missiles]] against each other.<ref name="au.af.mil"/>

This war also saw the only confirmed air-to-air helicopter battles in history of warfare with the Iraqi [[Mi-25]]s flying against Iranian [[AH-1 SuperCobra]] on numerous occasions. The first instance of these helicopter "[[dogfight]]s" happened when on the starting day of the war (22 September 1980), two Iranian SuperCobras crept up on two Mi-25s and hit them with [[BGM-71 TOW|TOW]] wire-guided antitank missiles. One Mi-25 went down immediately, the other was badly damaged and crashed before reaching base. The Iranians won another similar air battle on 24 April 1981, destroying two Mi-25s without incurring losses to themselves. According to some unclassified documents, Iranian pilots achieved a 10 to 1 kill ratio over the Iraqi helicopter pilots during these engagements and even engaged Iraqi fixed wing aircraft.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_214.shtml |title=Fire in the Hills: Iranian and Iraqi Battles of Autumn 1982 |publisher=Acig.org |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vectorsite.net/avhind_2.html |title= Hind In Foreign Service / Hind Upgrades / Mi-28 Havoc |publisher=Vectorsite.net |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref>

As has been the case in many wars,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1238278-overview |title=Medscape: Medscape Access |publisher=Emedicine.medscape.com |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref> this war had an impact on medical sciences. A new surgical intervention for comatosed patients with penetrating [[Traumatic brain injury|brain injuries]] which was [[Science and technology in Iran#Medical sciences|created by Iranian physicians]] treating Iranian wounded soldiers during the war later on helped make new [[Neurosurgery|neurosurgical treatment]] guidelines for use of civilians who have suffered blunt or penetrating skull injuries, thereby greatly improving survival rates. The previously used surgical technique and its resultant guidelines developed by [[US army]] during [[World War II]] and [[Vietnam War]] has been replaced by this new treatment module and it has been reported that US congresswoman [[Gabrielle Giffords]] benefited from the new guidelines after [[2011 Tucson shooting|she was shot in head]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-medical-advances-20110124,0,3062896.story | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Melissa | last=Healy | title=Advances in treatment help more people survive severe injuries to the brain | date=24 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quedit.com/detail/advances-in-treatment-help-more-people-survive-severe-injuries-to-the-brain-5128922.html |title=Advances in treatment help more people survive severe injuries to the brain |publisher=Quedit.com |date=2011-01-22 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Healy |first=Melissa |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/la-he-medical-advances-20110124,0,1844181.story |title=Brain injuries: Changes in the treatment of brain injuries have improved survival rate |publisher=baltimoresun.com |date=2011-01-24 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref>

===Human wave===
Iran's Islamic government is said to have "become famous" for its use of human waves to clear minefields or draw enemy fire during the war. While very costly in human lives, the tactic sometimes worked.  [[Basij]] volunteers which were used were swept up in the atmosphere of patriotism of the war mobilization and Shi'i love of martyrdom encouraged by the revolution. The young were encouraged through visits to the schools and an intensive media campaign.<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=moin+khomeini+human+wave&btnG=&safe=active#ds=bo&pq=moin%20khomeini%20human%20wave&hl=en&cp=26&gs_id=c&xhr=t&q=moin+khomeini+%22human+wave%22&qe=bW9pbiBraG9tZWluaSAiaHVtYW4gd2F2ZSI&qesig=8ofExfDY23q8xQiWnlx_vA&pkc=AFgZ2tmidRuXffSzFKTYD51ZzzybxIsZZyvYyYrlijYZk5mRs2NRX__XIkC6_ZiGAPA3rlSr5cJsqJQkC6sbvIoEL9sOqJ4cNQ&pf=p&sclient=psy&safe=active&tbo=1&tbm=bks&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=moin+khomeini+%22human+wave%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=65768d0524dcbce6&biw=1280&bih=552 ]</ref>

According to journalist Robin Wright
<blockquote>"During the Fateh offensive [in February 1987], I toured the southwest front on the Iranian side and saw scores of boys, aged anywhere from nine to sixteen, who said with staggering and seemingly genuine enthusiasm that they had volunteered to become martyrs. Regular army troops, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards and mullahs all lauded these youths, known as [[Basij|baseeji]], for having played the most dangerous role in breaking through Iraqi lines. They had led the way, running over fields of mines to clear the ground for the Iranian ground assault. Wearing white headbands to signify the embracing of death, and shouting `[[Shahid|Shaheed]], shaheed` (`Martyr, martyr`, they literally blew their way into heaven. Their numbers were never disclosed. But a walk through the residential suburbs of Iranian cities provided a clue. Window after window, block after block, displayed black-bordered photographs of teenage or preteen youths." <ref>Wright, Robin, ''Sacred Rage'', Simon and Schuster, (2001), p.37</ref></blockquote>

==="War of the Cities"===
Toward the end of the war, the land conflict regressed into [[stalemate]] largely because neither side had enough self-propelled artillery or air power to support ground advances.

The relatively professional Iraqi armed forces could not make headway against the far more numerous Iranian [[infantry]]. The Iranians were outmatched in both towed and self-propelled [[artillery]], which left their tanks and troops vulnerable. This led the Iranians to substitute infantry power for artillery.

Iraq's air force soon began [[strategic bombing]] against Iranian cities, chiefly [[Tehran]], in 1985. To minimize losses from the superior Iranian Air Force, Iraq rapidly switched to [[Scud]] and [[Al Hussein (missile)|Al-Hussein]] improved Scud launches. In retaliation, Iran fired [[Scud]] missiles acquired from Libya and Syria against [[Baghdad]]. In all, Iraq launched 520 Scuds and Al-Husseins against Iran and received only 177 in exchange. In October 1986, Iraqi aircraft began to attack civilian passenger trains and aircrafts on Iranian soil, including an [[Iran Air]] Boeing 737 unloading passengers at [[Shiraz International Airport]].<ref name="r1" />

In retaliation for the Iranian [[Operation Karbala-5]], an early 1987 attempt to capture Basra, Iraq attacked 65 cities in 226 sorties over 42 days, bombing civilian neighborhoods. Eight Iranian cities came under attack from Iraqi missiles. The bombings killed 65 children in an elementary school in [[Borujerd]] alone. The Iranians also responded with Scud missile attacks on Baghdad and struck a primary school there. These events became known as "the War of the Cities".<ref name="AggrPolitics" />

==Aftermath==
[[File:Mosque damage.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Damage to a mosque in [[Khoramshahr]].]]
[[File:Yazd3.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Iranian Martyr Cemetery in [[Yazd]].]]

The Iran–Iraq War was extremely costly in lives and material, one of the deadliest wars since [[World War II]]{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}. Both countries were devastated by the effect of the war. It cost Iran an estimated 1 million casualties, killed or wounded, and Iranians continue to suffer and die as a consequence of Iraq's use of chemical weapons{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}. Iraqi casualties are estimated at 250,000–500,000 killed or wounded. Thousands of civilians died on both sides in air raids and ballistic missile attacks.<ref name="AggrPolitics"/>

Iran's attempts to export its revolution to transform the Middle East failed, and Khomeini was forced to accept that for the moment at least, the Islamic revolution was to be confided only to Iran.<ref>Takeyh, Ray The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 63, Issue 3, Summer 2010page 365.</ref> By 1988, the war had pushed Iran very close to collapse with the regime running out of volunteers and the economy failing apart, which is why Khomeini accepted the call for a ceasefire that he rejecting since 1982.<ref>Takeyh, Ray The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 63, Issue 3, Summer 2010page 382.</ref> For a considerable period after the war, Iran chose to be cautious in foreign policy as its main concern was rebuilding a shattered nation.<ref>Takeyh, Ray The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment pages 365-383 from ''Middle East Journal'', Volume 63, Issue 3, Summer 2010page 382.</ref> 

The financial loss was also enormous, at the time exceeding US$600&nbsp;billion for each country ($1.2&nbsp;trillion in total). But shortly after the war it turned out that the economic cost of war is more profound and long-lasting than the estimates right after the war suggested.<ref name="encyclopedia1">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580640_2/Iran-Iraq_War.html |title=Iran-Iraq War – MSN Encarta |publisher=Encarta.msn.com |date=20 August 1988 |accessdate=1 March 2009}}</ref> Economic development was stalled and oil exports disrupted. These economic woes were of a more serious nature for Iraq that had to incur huge debts during the war as compared to the very small debt of Iran, as Iranians had used bloodier but economically cheaper tactics during the war, in effect substituting soldiers' lives for lack of financial funding during their defense. This put Saddam in a difficult position, particularly with his war-time allies, as by then Iraq was under more than $130&nbsp;billion of international debt, excluding the interest in an after war economy with a slowed [[GDP growth]]. A large portion of this debt was loaned by [[Paris Club]] amounting to $21&nbsp;billion, 85% of which had originated from seven countries of Japan, Russia, France, Germany, United States, Italy and United Kingdom. But the largest portion of $130&nbsp;billion debt was to Iraq's former Arab backers of the war including the $67&nbsp;billion loaned by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, [[UAE]] and Jordan.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

After the war, Kuwait started to over-produce oil in order to keep Iraq's economy down{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}. Iraq also accused Kuwait of slant drilling and stealing oil which lead to the invasion of Kuwait, which in turn worsened Iraq's financial situation as the [[United Nations Compensation Commission]] awarded reparations amounting more than $200&nbsp;billion to victims of the invasion including Kuwait, United States, individuals and companies among others, to be paid by Iraq in oil commodity{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}. To enforce payment of these reparations Iraq was put under a [[Iraq sanctions|complete international embargo]]. This put further strain on the Iraqi economy, pushing its [[external debt]] and international liabilities to private and public sectors including interest to more than $500&nbsp;billion by the end of [[Saddam]]'s rule. Combined with negative economic growth of Iraq after the prolonged international sanctions, this produced a [[Debt-to-GDP ratio]] of more than 1,000%, making Iraq the most indebted poor country in the world. This unsustainable economic situation compelled the new Iraqi government formed after the fall of Saddam to request the writing off of a considerable portion of loans incurred during the Iran–Iraq war.<ref name="docs.google.com">[http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:5u7kx8xIbOQJ:fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33376.pdf+iraq+debt+including+interest&hl=en&gl=ca Docs.Google.com]</ref><ref name="iie.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.iie.com/publications/opeds/oped.cfm?ResearchID=249 |title=Op-ed: The Right Way to Ease Iraq's Debt Burden |publisher=Iie.com |date=2003-04-28 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref name="mees.com">[http://www.mees.com/postedarticles/finance/iraq/a46n10b01.htm Mees.com]{{dead link|date=August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7492115.stm |work=BBC News  | title=UAE waives billions of Iraqi debt | date=6 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5736M320090804?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 |work=Reuters   | title=Iraq war reparations to Kuwait could be reduced: UK | date=4 August 2009}}</ref><ref>[http://www.jubileeiraq.org/reperations.htm JubileeIraq.org]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.probeinternational.org/odious-debts/western-countries-cancel-iraqi-debt-gulf-countries-dont |title=Western Countries Cancel Iraqi Debt, Gulf Countries Don't |publisher=Probe International |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Area=ia&ID=IA43808&Page=archives |title=Ramadan Sermon From Iraq |publisher=Memri.org |date= |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?p=679658 |title=Iraq's debt. Saudi Arabia backed away from it's obligations & claims contrary to assurances of Kuwait |publisher=Investorsiraq.com |date=2008-08-13 |accessdate=2011-08-02}}</ref><ref>[http://www.jubileeiraq.org/translations/farsi.htm]</ref>

The war and its outcome, also had a marked effect on the scientific and technological advancement of the countries involved. In case of Iraq, after the war, its scientific and technological productivity collapsed and has not yet recovered.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} Kuwait's scientific output on the other hand was slowed initially due to the funding it extended to Saddam and later on became stagnant.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} Iran on the other hand experienced a scientific revival due to the war and has the [[Science and technology in Iran#International rankings|fastest scientific growth rate]] in the world today.<ref>http://www.science-metrix.com/30years-Paper.pdf</ref>

Much of the oil industry in both countries was damaged in [[airstrike|air raids]]. Iran's production capacity has yet to fully recover from the damages of the war. 10 million shells had landed in Iraq's oil fields at Basra, seriously damaging Iraq's oil production.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

Prisoners taken by both sides were not released until more than 10 years after the end of the conflict.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} Cities on both sides had also been considerably damaged.
Not all saw the war in negative terms. The Islamic Revolution of Iran was strengthened and radicalized.<ref>Nasr, Vali, ''The Shia Revival'', Norton, (2006), pages 140</ref> The Iranian government-owned ''Etelaat'' newspaper wrote:
<blockquote>"There is not a single school or town that is excluded from the happiness of "holy defence" of the nation, from drinking the exquisite elixir of martyrdom, or from the sweet death of the martyr, who dies in order to live forever in paradise."<ref>Column in ''Etelaat'', 4 April 1983, quoted in Molavi, Afshin, ''The Soul of Iran'' (Norton), (2006)</ref> </blockquote>

The Iraqi government commemorated the war with various monuments, including the [[Hands of Victory]] and the [[Al-Shaheed Monument]], both in Baghdad.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

The war left the [[border]]s unchanged.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} Two years later, as war with the western powers loomed, Saddam recognized Iranian rights over the eastern half of the Shatt al-Arab, a reversion to the ''status quo ante bellum'' that he had repudiated a decade earlier.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

Declassified US intelligence available has explored both the domestic and foreign implications of Iran's apparent (in 1982) victory over Iraq in their then two-year old war.<ref>SNIE 34/36.2-82 link: [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB167 Intelligence Reports on Saddam's Reign]</ref>

On 9 December 1991, the UN Secretary-General reported the following to the UN Security Council:
<blockquote>
"That Iraq's explanations do not appear sufficient or acceptable to the international community is a fact. Accordingly, the outstanding event under the violations referred to is the attack of 22 September 1980, against Iran, which cannot be justified under the charter of the United Nations, any recognized rules and principles of international law or any principles of international morality and entails the responsibility for conflict."

"Even if before the outbreak of the conflict there had been some encroachment by Iran on Iraqi territory, such encroachment did not justify Iraq's aggression against Iran—which was followed by Iraq's continuous occupation of Iranian territory during the conflict—in violation of the prohibition of the use of force, which is regarded as one of the rules of jus cogens."

"On one occasion I had to note with deep regret the experts' conclusion that "chemical weapons had been used against Iranian civilians in an area adjacent to an urban center lacking any protection against that kind of attack" (s/20134, annex). The Council expressed its dismay on the matter and its condemnation in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 620|Resolution 620]] (1988), adopted on 26 August 1988."<ref>See items 6, 7, and 8 of the UN Secretary General's report to the [[UN Security Council]] on 9 December 1991: [http://www.iranian.com/Kasraie/2005/April/Ahwaz/Images/page1.pdf Iranian.com]</ref>
</blockquote>

In 2005, the new government of Iraq apologized to Iran for starting the war.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/23/iran-iraq-war-anniversary | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Ian | last=Black | title=Iran and Iraq remember war that cost more than a million lives | date=23 September 2010}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Arms-to-Iraq]]
*[[Iran Ajr]], the minelaying ship captured by the U.S.
*[[Kaveh Golestan]]b
*[[Persepolis (comic)]]
*[[Reagan Doctrine]]
*[[Saddam – United States relations]]
*[[Saddam's Trial and Iran-Iraq War]]
*[[Scott Report]]
*[[The Night Bus (film)]]
*[[Iran–Iraq relations]]
*[[US-Iran relations]]

'''Relevant conflicts'''
*[[Baluchi Autonomist Movement]]
*[[Iran–Iraq War in the Air 1980–1988]]
*[[List of conflicts in the Middle East]]
*[[List of modern conflicts in the Middle East]]

'''Persons:'''
*[[Frans Van Anraat]]
*[[Morteza Avini]], prominent photographer of the Iran–Iraq War
*[[List of Iranian commanders in the Iran–Iraq War]]

'''General:'''
*[[Composite Index of National Capability]]
*[[History of Iran]]
*[[History of Iraq]]
*[[Military history of Iran]]
*[[Military of Iran]]
*[[Military of Iraq]]
*[[Post–World War II air-to-air combat losses]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
*Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts Why and Where They Are Happening'', Bloomsbury: London, 1989, {{ISBN|0747502609}}.
*Bulloch, John & Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War Its Origins, History and Consequences'', Methuen: London, 1989, {{ISBN|0-413-61370-4}}.
*Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988'', Osprey: London, 2002, {{ISBN|1841763713}}.

==External links==
*[http://irannegah.com/video_browse.aspx?category=2  '''Video Archive of Iran–Iraq War''']
{{Commons category|Iran-Iraq War}}
{{wikisourcecat|Iran–Iraq War}}
*[http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/iran_iraq.php Documentary about the war] [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8979584909588245820 (on Google Video)]
*[http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/docs/3203/ FMFRP 3-203 – Lessons Learned: Iran–Iraq War, 10 December 1990].
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4360137.stm Dutchman charged for selling chemicals to Saddam], [[BBC]], 18 March 2005.
*Sasan Fayazmanesh, ''Historical Amnesia: The Shoot Down of Iran Air Flight 655'', Counterpunch, 11 July 2008, [http://www.counterpunch.org/sasan07112008.html Counterpunch.org].
*[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm Global Security: Iran-Iraq war]
*[http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/EdMoise/iraqbib.html#iraniraq Bibliography: The Iran-Iraq War, and U.S. Involvement in It].
'''Photo Galleries'''
*[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/photo_galleries/article6844806.ece Pictures Iran-Iraq War] Times Online Photo Gallery
*[http://cdm164001.cdmhost.com/krogh/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p164001coll21&CISOPTR=143&CISOBOX=1&REC=4 Peter Krogh discuses the Iran-Iraq War and the question of American involvement with Thomas L. McNaugher and Richard Helms] On ''American Interests'', 1984
{{Template group
|list1=
{{Iran topics}}
{{Iraq topics}}
}}
<pre>
[[Category:Iran–Iraq War| ]]
[[Category:Military industry]]
[[Category:Modern history]]
[[Category:Wars involving Iran]]
[[Category:Wars involving Iraq]]

{{Link GA|ar}}
{{Link GA|is}}
{{Link GA|no}}
{{Link GA|zh}}
</pre>
[[ar:حرب الخليج الأولى]]
[[az:İran-İraq müharibəsi]]
[[bn:ইরান-ইরাক যুদ্ধ]]
[[bs:Iransko-irački rat]]
[[bg:Ирано-иракска война]]
[[ca:Guerra Iran-Iraq]]
[[cs:Irácko-íránská válka]]
[[cy:Rhyfel Iran-Irac]]
[[da:Iran-Irak-krigen]]
[[de:Erster Golfkrieg]]
[[dv:އީރާން އިރާޤު ހަނގުރާމަ]]
[[et:Iraani-Iraagi sõda]]
[[el:Πόλεμος Ιράν-Ιράκ]]
[[es:Guerra Irán-Irak]]
[[eo:Iraka-irana milito]]
[[eu:Iran-Irak gerra]]
[[fa:جنگ ایران و عراق]]
[[fo:Kríggið ímillum Iran og Irak]]
[[fr:Guerre Iran-Irak]]
[[ko:이란-이라크 전쟁]]
[[hy:Իրան-Իրաք պատերազմ]]
[[hi:ईरान-इराक़ युद्ध]]
[[hr:Iransko-irački rat]]
[[id:Perang Iran-Irak]]
[[is:Stríð Íraks og Írans]]
[[it:Guerra Iran-Iraq]]
[[he:מלחמת איראן-עיראק]]
[[ka:ირან-ერაყის ომი]]
[[sw:Vita kati ya Irak na Uajemi]]
[[la:Bellum Sinus Persici Primum]]
[[lv:Irānas - Irākas karš]]
[[hu:Irak–iráni háború]]
[[arz:حرب الخليج الاولانيه]]
[[ms:Perang Iran-Iraq]]
[[nl:Irak-Iranoorlog]]
[[ne:ईरान-इराक़ युद्ध]]
[[ja:イラン・イラク戦争]]
[[no:Iran–Irak-krigen]]
[[pnb:ایران عراق جنگ]]
[[pl:Wojna iracko-irańska]]
[[pt:Guerra Irã-Iraque]]
[[ro:Războiul Iran-Irak]]
[[ru:Ирано-иракская война]]
[[simple:Iran-Iraq War]]
[[sk:Iránsko-iracká vojna]]
[[sl:Iransko-iraška vojna]]
[[sr:Ирачко-ирански рат]]
[[sh:Iračko-Iranski rat]]
[[fi:Irakin–Iranin sota]]
[[sv:Iran–Irak-kriget]]
[[ta:ஈரான் – ஈராக் போர்]]
[[th:สงครามอิรัก-อิหร่าน]]
[[tg:Ҷанги Эрон ва Ироқ]]
[[tr:İran-Irak Savaşı]]
[[uk:Ірано-іракська війна]]
[[ur:ایران عراق جنگ]]
[[vi:Chiến tranh Iran-Iraq]]
[[yi:איראן-איראק מלחמה]]
[[zh-yue:兩伊戰爭]]
[[zh:两伊战争]]